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Cheryl Strayed

シェリル・ストレイド

Sheriru Sutoreido

Aliases: Cheryl Nyland
Pen Names: Sugar（Used for Dear Sugar advice column）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1968-09-17 （Spangler, Pennsylvania）
Nationality
American
Languages
English
Residence History
Spangler, Pennsylvania → Chaska, Minnesota → Aitkin County, Minnesota → Portland, Oregon

Career

Occupations
Writer, speaker, podcast host, newspaper reporter, waitress, youth advocate, political organizer, temporary office employee, emergency medical technician
Active Years
1987-2024
Affiliations
Vida: Women in Literary Arts (first board of directors)
Influenced By
Alice Munro, George Saunders, Mary Gaitskill, Arthur Flowers, Mary Caponegro
Nominations
Great Lakes Book Award Finalist (Torch)

Education

University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
College of Arts and Sciences
Period: 1987 (1年次)
Country: United States
Attended freshman year only, then transferred
University of Minnesota
College of Liberal Arts / English and Women's Studies
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Year of Graduation: 1991
Country: United States
Double major
Syracuse University
Fiction Writing
Degree: Master of Fine Arts
Year of Graduation: 2002
Country: United States
Mentors: George Saunders, Arthur Flowers, Mary Gaitskill, Mary Caponegro

Awards

Pushcart Prize
2010
Work: Munro Country
Category: エッセイ
Organization: Pushcart Prize Editors
Result: 受賞
Oregon Book Award
2013
Work: Wild
Organization: Literary Arts
Result: 受賞
Barnes & Noble Discover Award
2012
Work: Wild
Organization: Barnes & Noble
Result: 受賞
Oregon Women of Achievement
2014
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Torch

2006 Novel 336 pages

A novel about a family unraveling in the wake of the mother's death from cancer.

lossfamilygrief

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

2012 Memoir 336 pages

Memoir of her 1,100-mile solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995 amid personal struggles.

self-discoverygriefrecovery from addictionnature
Adaptations
  • [Film] Wild / Jean-Marc Vallée (2014)
Translations
  • Translated into 37 languages

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

2012 Advice/Essay Collection 368 pages

Collection of 'Dear Sugar' advice columns on love and life.

lovelife adviceempathy
Adaptations
  • [Stage play] Tiny Beautiful Things / Thomas Kail (2016)
  • [TV series] Tiny Beautiful Things (2023)

Brave Enough

2015 Quote Book/Self-help 160 pages

Collection of quotes offering insights on life.

couragelife

Bibliography

  • Torch (2006)
  • Wild (2012)
  • Tiny Beautiful Things (2012)
  • Brave Enough (2015)

Adaptations

  • Wild (film, 2014)
  • Tiny Beautiful Things (TV series, 2023)

Translations of Works

  • Wild: 37 languages

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Honest and raw proseConversational personal essay styleEmpathetic voice
Recurring Motifs
Loss and redemptionSolitary journeysAdvice on love and lifeOvercoming trauma

Health

  • Sexual abuse
    3-6歳
    Childhood trauma influencing her writing
  • Heroin use
    20代
    Addiction and recovery detailed in Wild

Legacy

Internationally bestselling author. Wild selected for Oprah's Book Club, adapted into Oscar-nominated film. Symbol of women's empowerment with statue erected.

In Popular Culture

  • Portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in film Wild
  • Statue created for Statues for Equality project

Quotes

  • The beautiful thing about going alone is that every triumph is yours, every consequence of every mistake is yours, everything that you have to figure out is on you. That’s a really powerful experience. And sometimes it is beautiful and positive and exciting, and sometimes it's negative and hard and lonely. I wanted that. I welcomed that.
    Source: Forbes interview (2019)

Trivia

  • Refers to her mother's death as her 'genesis story'
  • Used heroin in her twenties
  • Chose surname 'Strayed' symbolically after divorce
  • Her daughter played young Cheryl in Wild film