Cheryl Strayed: Love, Life and Lessons Learned in “Wild”

Cheryl Strayed, bestselling author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, speaks about love, loss and life to a packed auditorium at Concordia University, St. Paul. A Minnesota native, Strayed discusses how issues in her personal life culminated with the journey she details in her critically acclaimed memoir. During this evening of heartbreak, laughter and hope, Cheryl offers life lessons that she learned during one of her life's darkest times. Even as she mourned the loss of her mother and saw the demise of her marriage, Cheryl refused to give up. Instead, she went on a journey of intense self-discovery, hiking more than 1,000 miles on the Pacific Coast Trail.

In this video, recorded during her evening at Concordia, Cheryl offers valuable advice and wisdom. She speaks about her own experiences with struggle, grief and healing and answers heartfelt audience questions. "We all in some way will come to terms with our lives. And the beauty and the sorrow in our own journey," she says. Cheryl also speaks about the power of love: "I do think that love is the greatest force on earth." No matter what struggles you are encountering or what your situation is, Cheryl's words will inspire you and empower you to change your life.

Cheryl's books have been translated into more than thirty languages worldwide. The Fox Searchlight movie adaptation of Wild, the number one New York Times bestseller, will be released in 2014. Wild was also chosen as the inaugural title for Oprah Winfrey's Book Club 2.0. Cheryl's writing has appeared in The Best American Essays, the New York Times magazine, the Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, Salon, The Missouri Review, The Sun, Tin House, The Rumpus and more. Cheryl has an MFA in fiction writing from Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota. She is a founding member of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and serves on its board of directors. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.