Augusten Burroughs Keynote Speaker

Acclaimed author Augusten Burroughs had a very unusual childhood, one that America came to know through his acclaimed memoir “Running with Scissors” (2002), which spent more than four years on The New York Times Best-Seller List; spawned an Oscar-nominated film starring Annette Bening, Alec Baldwin, and Gwyneth Paltrow; and earned him literary stardom.

Since publishing his first novel – “Sellevision”, the fictional story of the warped lives of four home-shopping network employees – Burroughs has published several other works, among them the notable “Dry”, which details his struggle with and eventual recovery from alcoholism. Dry has since become a contemporary staple of recovery literature. Burroughs’s other popular titles include “A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father”; “You Better Not Cry”, a collection of holiday stories; and his latest, “This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude, and More”.

After surviving his tumultuous childhood and dropping out of high school, Burroughs obtained his GED and became successful in advertising.  He has since achieved fame as one of today’s most celebrated modern writers. His books are published in over 25 countries and his writing has appeared in magazines, literary journals, and newspapers around the world such as The New York Times, Out, and House and Garden. He has been profiled in People, The Guardian, and Entertainment Weekly, which ranked him number 15 in 2005’s list of the “25 Funniest People in America.” He also pens a monthly column for Details magazine.