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By PDX People<\/p>\n

Cheryl Strayed<\/strong> is by far one of the most well-known people from Portland Oregon because she\u2019s literally responsible for helping to raise the awareness of the Pacific Crest Trail thanks to her award-winning book Wild and the hit 2014 movie of the same name which starred Reese Witherspoon.<\/p>\n

About Cheryl Strayed<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Born in 1968, Cheryl grew up in a rural farm community in Pennsylvania. The home that her family lived in was one that they built themselves and it didn\u2019t have electricity or running water for the first few years that they lived there.<\/p>\n

Following her parent’s divorce during her teenage years, Cheryl ended up going to college in Minnesota where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree including a double major in English and Women\u2019s\u2019 Studies.<\/p>\n

Over the years she would travel around the United States working odd jobs while writing. She would eventually go back to college again and earn a Master of Fine Arts in fiction writing from Syracuse University<\/p>\n

In 1991 her life was marked by tragedy when her mother passed away at the age of 45. This loss is something that she\u2019s written about in her books<\/p>\n

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Career<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

In addition to her four books\u00a0Wild,\u00a0Tiny Beautiful Things,\u00a0Brave Enough, and\u00a0Torch, Strayed has published essays in various magazines, including\u00a0The Washington Post Magazine<\/a>,\u00a0The New York Times Magazine<\/a>,\u00a0Vogue<\/a>,\u00a0Tin House<\/a>,\u00a0The Missouri Review<\/a>, and\u00a0The Sun Magazine<\/a>.\u00a0Her work has been selected three times for inclusion in\u00a0The Best American Essays<\/a>\u00a0(“Heroin\/e” in the 2000 edition, and “The Love of My Life” in the 2003 edition, and “My Uniform” in the 2015 edition). Strayed was the guest editor of\u00a0The Best American Essays 2013<\/a>.\u00a0She won a\u00a0Pushcart Prize<\/a>\u00a0for her essay, “Munro Country,” which was originally published in\u00a0The Missouri Review<\/a>. The essay is about a letter Strayed received from\u00a0Alice Munro<\/a>, when she was a young writer and Munro’s influence on Strayer\u2019s writing. <\/em><\/p>\n

Strayed wrote the popular advice column “Dear Sugar” on\u00a0The Rumpus.\u00a0She began writing the column in March 2010, when the column’s originator\u00a0Steve Almond<\/a>\u00a0asked her to take over for him. She wrote the column anonymously until February 14, 2012, when she revealed her identity as “Sugar” at a “Coming Out Party” hosted by the Rumpus at the Verdi Club in San Francisco.\u00a0A selection of her columns has been collected in her bestselling book\u00a0Tiny Beautiful Things. Since 2014, she has been the co-host, along with Steve Almond, of the Dear Sugars podcast, produced by\u00a0The New York Times<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0WBUR<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Her memoir\u00a0Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail\u00a0details her 1,100-mile hike on the\u00a0Pacific Crest Trail<\/a>\u00a0from the Mojave Desert to the Oregon-Washington border and tells the story of the personal struggles that compelled her to take the hike. Three months before her memoir was published, actress\u00a0Reese Witherspoon<\/a>\u00a0optioned it for her company, Pacific Standard. Nick Hornby<\/a>\u00a0adapted\u00a0Wild\u00a0for the\u00a0screen<\/a>, with Witherspoon portraying Strayed in the film. <\/em><\/p>\n

In June 2012,\u00a0Wild\u00a0was chosen as the inaugural selection for\u00a0Oprah’s Book Club 2.0<\/a>, which is a relaunch of\u00a0Oprah’s Book Club<\/a>, which ended in 2011. Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 uses online social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Winfrey discussed\u00a0Wild\u00a0in her video announcement of the new club. Winfrey interviewed Strayed for a two-hour broadcast of her show\u00a0Super Soul Sunday<\/a>\u00a0on her\u00a0OWN Network<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

Strayed is also a public speaker and often gives lectures about her life and books. She travels internationally to meet at writers retreats and lead\u00a0writing seminars<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

Strayed co-hosts the Dear Sugars\u00a0podcast<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0Steve Almond<\/a>. The podcast is produced by\u00a0The New York Times<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0WBUR<\/a>, Boston’s\u00a0National Public Radio<\/a>\u00a0affiliate<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Writing Wild<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

There\u2019s no doubt that Wild became the book that\u2019s defined Cheryl\u2019s career as a writer and it\u2019s also empowered millions of women around the world to step outside their comfort zones and face their fears.<\/em><\/p>\n

SHE SPENT<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0two and a half years writing\u00a0<\/em>Wild<\/em>. In between teaching creative writing and tending to her two small children, she used her kitchen table as a desk. On occasion, she\u2019d seek refuge in various hotel rooms just to write for a day or two. The final chapters came together in Lake County, Oregon, in a cabin lent to her by cattle ranchers.<\/em><\/p>\n

SHE ATTRIBUTES<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0her impressive attention to detail to being a Virgo: \u201cI\u2019ve always been able to remember tiny facts\u2014the name of someone\u2019s mother mentioned in passing, birthdays, the thing we were eating when we had that conversation. It\u2019s unsettling to some.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

FIVE MONTHS<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0before\u00a0Wild\u00a0was published, in March 2012, Reese Witherspoon was given an advance copy. Although Strayed isn\u2019t superstitious, she lit a candle in her bedroom, and, \u201cEvery time I would pass it I would say in a whispered tone, Reese . . .\u201d Three days later, Witherspoon, eager to both produce and star in a film adaptation, called to say she wanted to option the book.<\/em><\/p>\n

THREE MONTHS<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0after\u00a0Wild\u00a0was published, Oprah had her come-to-Cheryl moment as well, announcing the resurrection of her beloved Book Club in order to share the gospel of\u00a0Wild. Unbeknownst to her staff, Oprah had called Strayed a month earlier to share her plans and swore her to secrecy. (Strayed told only her husband, editor, and agent.)<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n