Going Om

Melissa Carroll is a writer and yoga instructor who believes in the power of being present. Based in Tampa, she guides more than 200 students every week at the largest yoga class in Florida. Melissa leads yoga and creative writing retreats all over the world, and teaches creative writing at the University of Tampa. Melissa is the author of the chapbook The Karma Machine, and her work has appeared in many literary journals and magazines. Discover more at MelissaCarrollYoga.com.Cheryl Strayed is the author of #1 New York Times bestseller WILD, the New York Times bestseller TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS, and the novel TORCH. WILD was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as her first selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0. Strayed's award-winning 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--where she wrote the popular Dear Sugar advice column--and elsewhere. Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages around the world. The movie adaptation of WILD will be released by Fox Searchlight in December 2014. The film is directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and stars Reese Witherspoon, with a screenplay by Nick Hornby. Strayed holds an MFA in fiction writing from Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and their two children.