© 2024 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Apple's latest iOS (17.4) is preventing our livestreams from playing. We suggest you download the free Boise State Public Radio app & stream us there while we work to troubleshoot the issue.

Tara Westover Discusses Her Bestselling Memoir "Educated"

Tara Westover grew up in far southeastern Idaho in a landscape familiar to many in the Gem State, a valley dominated by ranches and ringed by mountains.  Her daily life, though, was anything but normal. 

The youngest of seven children, Westover was raised by parents who deeply distrusted government and authority figures.  She didn't have a birth certificate.  She never attended public school and never visited a doctor or a nurse. 

At age 17 Tara Westover taught herself enough to pass the A.C.T. and be accepted into Brigham Young University.  She went on to earn a doctorate at Cambridge University in England and be awarded a fellowship at Harvard.  The story of her remarkable journey - and the personal traumas that haunted her along the way - are the subject of her memoir, Educated.

Right after its publication in February, 2018, Educated shot to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list.  Praised by critics as "harrowing" and "one of a kind," the book is being translated into 23 languages.  Now Ms. Westover, who lives in Cambridge, England, will be coming to Boise in February, 2019 as part of the Cabin's "Readings and Conversations" series.

Stay Connected

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.