Tara Westover reads from and discusses her debut memoir, which tells the incredible story of her upbringing by survivalists in the Idaho mountains and her dogged pursuit of a formal education at age 17. "Beautiful and propulsive" (Vogue), Westover’s memoir is not just about her exceptional childhood but also about finding the will to escape it. Westover holds a BA from Brigham Young University and an MPhil and PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge. She was a visiting fellow at Harvard University in 2010. The Some Favorite Writers series is sponsored by the UCLA Department of English and Friends of English, and organized by Mona Simpson.