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This year, the All Henrico Reads Planning Committee is organizing our event around a theme. We understand that our environment, our communities, our relationships, and our well-being are inextricably linked, and that naturalism and health are topics of importance to our community. Knowing this, we have decided upon "Conservation, Connection, and Compassion: Wellness and the natural world" as our 2024 All Henrico Reads theme. We invite you to explore these ideas with us in a community conversation centered around our shared title, Wild, culminating in a live event with author Cheryl Strayed, at the brand-new Henrico Sports and Events Center.

About Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

A young woman sets off alone on the Pacific Crest Trail to find strength and solace after the unbearable loss of her mother in this moving memoir. Braving danger and extreme conditions, she struggles to find her path forward, on the trail and beyond. This year's All Henrico Reads title was a yearslong bestseller and an Oprah's Book Club selection, later adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film.

"[Wild is] uplifting, but not in the way of many memoirs […] This book is as loose and sexy and dark as an early Lucinda Williams song. It’s got a punk spirit and makes an earthy and American sound." — Dwight Garner, New York Times

"Cheryl Strayed needed to be alone in the vast American outdoors, but she also needed to tell us about it. The film adaptation of her book — itself already a classic of wilderness writing and modern feminism — provides another reason to be grateful that she did." — A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Big-hearted, keen-eyed, lyrical, precise, possessed of a genuine love for her characters, Strayed reminds us in every line that if defeat and despair are part of human experience, so are kindness, patience, and transcendence." — George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo


Our Featured Author

photo of Cheryl Strayed by Joni KabanaCheryl Strayed is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film. Her bestselling collection of Dear Sugar columns, Tiny Beautiful Things, was adapted for a Hulu television show and as a play that continues to be staged in theaters nationwide. Strayed's other books are the critically acclaimed novel, Torch, and the bestselling collection Brave Enough, which brings together more than one hundred of her inspiring quotes. Her books have sold more than 5 million copies around the world and have been translated into forty languages. Her award-winning essays and short stories have been published in The Best American Essays, the New York Times, the Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, and elsewhere. Strayed has also made two hit podcasts, Dear Sugars, which she co-hosted with Steve Almond, and Sugar Calling. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

— From the author's website, cherylstrayed.com. Photo © Holly Andres.


About All Henrico Reads

All Henrico Reads is a "One Book" reading program in which we encourage members of the Henrico community to all read the same book or a book along the same topic, then discuss it together—whether at HCPL book discussion groups, or on their own—and join us to hear the author speak at a public event. By bringing people together over a common topic, we aim to encourage a sense of community, promote literacy, and foster a love for the connecting power of literature.

Since 2007, we have partnered with Henrico County Public Schools and the Friends of Henrico County Public Library to host the authors of our featured books at a public event. We thank them for their support.

 Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed book cover

This year, the All Henrico Reads Planning Committee is organizing our event around a theme. We understand that our environment, our communities, our relationships, and our well-being are inextricably linked, and that naturalism and health are topics of importance to our community. Knowing this, we have decided upon "Conservation, Connection, and Compassion: Wellness and the natural world" as our 2024 All Henrico Reads theme. We invite you to explore these ideas with us in a community conversation centered around our shared title, Wild, culminating in a live event with author Cheryl Strayed, at the brand-new Henrico Sports and Events Center.

About Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

A young woman sets off alone on the Pacific Crest Trail to find strength and solace after the unbearable loss of her mother in this moving memoir. Braving danger and extreme conditions, she struggles to find her path forward, on the trail and beyond. This year's All Henrico Reads title was a yearslong bestseller and an Oprah's Book Club selection, later adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film.

Wild is "uplifting, but not in the way of many memoirs, where the uplift makes you feel that you’re committing mental suicide. This book is as loose and sexy and dark as an early Lucinda Williams song. It’s got a punk spirit and makes an earthy and American sound." — Dwight Garner, New York Times Book Review

"Cheryl Strayed needed to be alone in the vast American outdoors, but she also needed to tell us about it. The film adaptation of her book — itself already a classic of wilderness writing and modern feminism — provides another reason to be grateful that she did." — A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Big-hearted, keen-eyed, lyrical, precise...Cheryl Strayed reminds us in every line that if defeat and despair are part of human experience, so are kindness, patience, and transcendence." — George Saunders


Our Featured Author

photo of Cheryl Strayed by Joni KabanaCheryl Strayed is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film. Her bestselling collection of Dear Sugar columns, Tiny Beautiful Things, was adapted for a Hulu television show and as a play that continues to be staged in theaters nationwide. Strayed's other books are the critically acclaimed novel, Torch, and the bestselling collection Brave Enough, which brings together more than one hundred of her inspiring quotes. Her books have sold more than 5 million copies around the world and have been translated into forty languages. Her award-winning essays and short stories have been published in The Best American Essays, the New York Times, the Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, and elsewhere. Strayed has also made two hit podcasts, Dear Sugars, which she co-hosted with Steve Almond, and Sugar Calling. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

— Adopted from the author's website, cherylstrayed.com. Photo by Joni Kabana.


About All Henrico Reads

All Henrico Reads is a "One Book" reading program in which we encourage members of the Henrico community to all read the same book or a book along the same topic, then discuss it together—whether at HCPL book discussion groups, or on their own—and join us to hear the author speak at a public event. By bringing people together over a common topic, we aim to encourage a sense of community, promote literacy, and foster a love for the connecting power of literature.

Since 2007, we have partnered with Henrico County Public Schools and the Friends of Henrico County Public Library to host the authors of our featured books at a public event. We thank them for their support.