Happy Birthday, Cheryl Strayed

I spoke with novelist and advice columnist Cheryl Strayed (born September 17, 1968) in 2012 a couple of days after the release of ‘Wild’, her soon-to-be best selling memoir about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. She had lost her mother and her marriage — and developed a heroin habit. She decided to do something about it, so with little experience, a poorly fitting pair of hiking boots, and a notebook she hiked from the Mojave Desert to the Bridge of the Gods on the Columbia River. The resulting memoir is a terrific adventure story and portrait of renewal. Strayed talks about her excitement about the film from her book starring Reese Witherspoon which came out two years after this chat and her advice column ‘Dear Sugar’.