The play has been staged in theaters all over the country and beyond. It was directed and co-conceived by Thomas Kail, the Tony Award-winning director of the musical “Hamilton.” Actress and writer Nia Vardalos wrote the play and starred in the premiere. In late 2016, “Tiny Beautiful Things” debuted on stage in New York City to rave reviews. But it later reaped creative rewards, culminating in a bestselling book and an acclaimed play adaptation. Her intuitive decision to accept the unpaid role of “Dear Sugar” did not ease the dire financial pressures facing Strayed and her husband. “Something inside of me sparked,” she says, “I decided to take the Dear Sugar column really seriously and to give it the full force of my humanity and to really make them literary pieces.”Ĭheryl Strayed, seen here in her Portland home, says that in the decade since the publication of her bestselling book 'Wild,' she's continued to build on her lifelong “education by doing.” She penned the deep and fiercely honest column from 2010 to 2012, even though it was unpaid and anonymous. Writing under the name Sugar, Strayed draws on her own life to answer difficult questions about life, love and loss.

That second book compiles highlights from her online advice column Dear Sugar. Strayed’s book “Tiny Beautiful Things” was released shortly after “Wild” debuted in 2012. They can’t take it away from you.” ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ The sale of “Wild” went through the roof, enabling Strayed to eventually buy their house with cash. “But pretty much overnight this thing happened and then suddenly we had a kind of stability that we never dreamed.”

Not that I think there’s any shame in getting food stamps, but just for myself, I didn’t feel right,” she continues. “We went from qualifying for food stamps, which we didn’t apply for because having grown up using food stamps, I just felt too much shame.

When “Wild” was released 10 years ago, Strayed and her husband, filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, were $85,000 in credit card debt, she says. In 2014, the book was adapted into an Oscar-nominated movie, starring Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl and Laura Dern as Cheryl’s mother, Bobbi. Strayed was also facing down chaos in her life, including heroin abuse and divorce. Without any previous backpacking experience, at the age of 26, she embarked on the journey to grieve the sudden death of her mother. “It took a few years for my toenails to be normal and especially those big toenails.” “The number one question I get about my book is, did my toenails grow back? I lost six of them on my hike,” says Strayed. “Wild” recounts Strayed’s harrowing three-month, 1,100-mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Wild cheryl