Scholar to launch memoir at Cambridge event

  • January 19, 2018
Scholar to launch memoir at Cambridge event

Tara Westover's much awaited memoir, Educated, will be launched on 28th February.

Author and Gates Cambridge Scholar Tara Westover will be launching her memoir in Cambridge on 28th February.

The book, “Educated”, is published by Hutchinson and was bought for a six-figure sum within 24 hours of the submission being sent out. It has sold rights in 20 territories and is being compared to classics of the genre such as Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterston.

It tells of Tara's experiences growing up in rural Idaho, raised by a radical, survivalist father who was intensely paranoid about government interference in the lives of his family. The book deals with complex themes of identity and self-invention, as well as the tension between loyalty to one's family and loyalty to one's self.

She writes of how, through the pursuit of knowledge, she evolved into a “new self”. Tara [2009], whose writing style is self taught, says: “You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal. I call it an education.”

The memoir has already been highlighted by many newspapers as a book to watch in 2018, with the Mail on Sunday calling it “an astonishing and uplifting story about the transformative power of education".

The Pool says: ‘‘This fiercely intelligent memoir is a fascinating and compassionate view of another world and the author’s struggle to both escape from and understand it as she heads out into the world.”

On the cover, actor and comedian Stephen Fry comments: “There is no feeling like discovering a young writer who is springing up fully armed with so much talent.”

The book's launch will take place in the Old Divinity School at St John's college from 6-8.30pm on 28th February and is open to the public.

Gates Cambridge Provost Barry Everitt will introduce the event. Tara will be interviewed by her PhD supervisor David Runciman and will also take questions from the audience. The event will be followed by a drinks reception and book signings.

*To book a ticket, click here.​ 

Tara Westover

Tara Westover

  • Alumni
  • United States
  • 2008 MPhil Political Thought and Intellectual History
    2009 PhD History
  • Trinity College

Latest News

Scholar working on Supreme Court case

A Gates Cambridge Scholar is working on a case involving the retroactive application of a law on restitution payments which comes before the US Supreme Court this week. Atticus DeProspo […]

Exploring nuclear security at a time of global tensions

Janani Mohan [2023] is at the centre of one of the biggest topics of our times – nuclear security. Janani is an expert in nuclear policy, having worked in the […]

Scholars launch mentorship scheme to help Palestinian students

A group of students, initially brought together by Gates Cambridge Scholars, and now expanding beyond both Gates and Cambridge, has formed the Palestine Educational Opportunity Initiative (Pal Ed) to support […]

How and where do religious minorities claim their rights?

A Gates Cambridge has just published a book which charts a new way of understanding minority rights based on an exploration of the everyday life of Muslim women’s activism in […]