Cheryl Strayed is an American memoirist, novelist and essayist. Strayed's personal essays have been published widely in national magazines and journals and have twice been selected for inclusion in The Best American Essays. She won a Pushcart Prize for her essay "Munro Country," which first appeared in The Missouri Review. Her second book, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail was published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf on March 20, 2012, and has been translated into more than thirty languages. From July 15, 2012, for seven consecutive weeks, it was No. 1 on the "New York Times Best Seller list" in hardcover non-fiction. In June 2012, Oprah Winfrey announced that Wild was her first selection for her new Oprah's Book Club 2.0. In 2010, Strayed began writing the "Dear Sugar" advice column for the literary web site The Rumpus. The column grew a fervent online following and in July 2012, a collection of the columns was published by Vintage Books as Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar. It debuted in the advice and self-help category on the "New York Times Best Seller list" at No. 5 and has also been published internationally. [More at Wikipedia]

September 17th, 1968 in Spangler, Pennsylvania (Age 55)