Cheryl Strayed

Cheryl Strayed (born 1968 in Spangler, Pennsylvania) is an American writer best known for her autobiographical books and for the advice column Dear Sugar. Her work belongs to contemporary American literature and has reached a wide readership through texts that combine personal experience with reflection on grief, loss and recovery.

She grew up in modest circumstances, moving with her family between Pennsylvania and Minnesota. She studied English and Women's Studies at the University of Minnesota. Her mother's death from lung cancer, while Strayed was in her final year of college, became a turning point that shapes much of her writing. In her twenties she held a range of jobs, including waitress and emergency medical technician, and in 2002 she earned an MFA in fiction from Syracuse University.

Her first novel, Torch, appeared in 2006 to positive reviews, but it was her second book that brought her international attention. Wild (2012) recounts the roughly 1,100-mile hike she made in 1995 along the Pacific Crest Trail, undertaken after years of self-destructive behaviour and the end of her marriage. The book blends travel narrative and memoir in a plain, direct style that attends both to the landscape and to her inner conflicts. That same year saw Tiny Beautiful Things, a collection drawn from her Dear Sugar replies, in which frankness sits alongside compassion.

Her legacy lies in the success of her books, which have been translated into many languages, and in the adaptations that brought her stories to screen and stage. The film Wild (2014), with Reese Witherspoon, and the television series based on Tiny Beautiful Things introduced her story to new audiences. Her podcasts and lectures have also made her a recognised voice on writing and personal resilience.