The character arc of Cheryl Strayed

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 17 September 1968 in Spangler, Pennsylvania. Between then and now sit newspaper work in 1987, her mother's death in 1991, a divorce and an eleven hundred mile walk in 1995, a Syracuse MFA in 2002, Torch in 2006, the Dear Sugar column from 2010, Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things in 2012 and a film in 2014. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Cheryl Strayed?

She walked eleven hundred miles and wrote it down.

She was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania, worked as a newspaper reporter at nineteen, and studied at the University of St Thomas and then the University of Minnesota, where she took a degree in English and women's studies. Her mother died in 1991 at forty five. Her first marriage ended in 1995.

That same year she walked eleven hundred miles of the Pacific Crest Trail alone, from the Mojave Desert to the Oregon and Washington state line, with no particular experience of long distance hiking. What is worth noticing on the line is the gap that follows: the walk was in 1995 and the book about it came out in 2012. Seventeen years of work sit in between.

She took an MFA in fiction at Syracuse in 2002 and published a novel, Torch, in 2006. From 2010 she wrote the Dear Sugar advice column, anonymously at first, answering strangers with more honesty than the form usually allows. Wild was published in 2012, chosen for Oprah's Book Club and adapted for film in 2014. Tiny Beautiful Things, which collects the Sugar columns, came out in the same year as Wild, and Brave Enough in 2015. In 2019 she was honoured in the Statues for Equality project.

The moments

Cheryl Strayed's timeline.

The 1980s

Jun 1987

A newspaper at nineteen

Milestone. Nineteen, and already being paid to write.

The 1990s

18 Mar 1991

Her mother died

Setback, and it changed everything. Forty five years old. The event the whole of Wild is built around.

Apr 1995

Her marriage ended

Setback, and it changed her direction. The same year as the walk, and part of why it happened.

1 May 1995

Stay put, or walk

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: walk the trail, taken, or stay and rebuild. Seventeen years later the walk became Wild, which reached Oprah's Book Club and a cinema screen.

10 Jun 1995

Eleven hundred miles

Milestone, and it changed everything. Alone, on foot, from a desert to a state line, with almost no experience.

The 2000s

Jun 2002

A Syracuse MFA

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Seven years after the trail, learning the craft properly.

7 Feb 2006

Torch

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A first book, and fiction rather than the thing everybody now knows.

The 2010s

Mar 2010

Dear Sugar begins

Milestone, and it changed everything. Answering strangers anonymously, with more honesty than the form usually allows.

20 Mar 2012

Wild

Milestone, and it changed everything. Seventeen years after the walk. The gap is the most instructive thing on this line.

10 Jul 2012

Tiny Beautiful Things

Milestone, and it changed her direction. The columns, collected, in the same year as the memoir.

3 Dec 2014

Wild, on film

Milestone, and it changed everything. The walk, put on a screen nineteen years after it happened.

26 Aug 2019

Statues for Equality

Milestone. Cast in bronze, which is an odd thing to happen to a living writer.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is a pair of proofs: that a person can walk out of the worst stretch of a life under their own power, and that the writing about it can take as long as it takes.

What she wrote

Books by Cheryl Strayed

2006
Torch
Her first book, a novel, published six years before the memoir everybody knows.
2012
Wild
From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail. Eleven hundred miles, written up seventeen years afterwards.
2012
Tiny Beautiful Things
The Dear Sugar columns collected. Advice to strangers, answered with unusual honesty.
2015
Brave Enough
A short collection of her own lines, taken from across the other books.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

Hers waited seventeen years between the walk and the book about it. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

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Cheryl Strayed: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Cheryl Strayed's character arc?

A newspaper reporter at nineteen who lost her mother at twenty two, ended a marriage, walked eleven hundred miles of a mountain trail alone with no experience, and then took seventeen years to write the book about it.

What is Wild by Cheryl Strayed?

Her memoir of 2012 about hiking eleven hundred miles of the Pacific Crest Trail alone in 1995. It was chosen for Oprah's Book Club 2.0 and adapted for film in 2014.

How far did Cheryl Strayed hike?

Eleven hundred miles, from the Mojave Desert to the Oregon and Washington state line, along the Pacific Crest Trail, in 1995. She had almost no long distance hiking experience when she set out.

What is Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed?

The advice column she began writing in 2010, anonymously at first, answering letters from strangers with more honesty than the form usually allows. Tiny Beautiful Things, published in 2012, collects the columns into a single volume.

When did Cheryl Strayed's mother die?

In 1991, at the age of forty five. It is the event the whole of Wild is built around. The walk along the Pacific Crest Trail came in 1995, and the book that told the story of both was published in 2012.

What did Cheryl Strayed study?

English and women's studies at the University of Minnesota, after a first year at the University of St Thomas, and then an MFA in fiction writing at Syracuse University, which she finished in 2002.

What books has Cheryl Strayed written?

Torch, a novel, in 2006; Wild in 2012; Tiny Beautiful Things, collecting the Dear Sugar columns, also in 2012; and Brave Enough in 2015. Wild is the one that reached the widest readership.

Where does this timeline of Cheryl Strayed's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Cheryl Strayed isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Cheryl Strayed, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Publisher records for Torch, Wild, Tiny Beautiful Things and Brave Enough.
Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection, 2012.