Distinguished Speaker Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls' powerful memoir, The Glass Castle, has been on the New York Times best-seller list for over two years and has sold over two million copies The Atlanta Constitution said, "Charles Dickens has nothing on Walls. Dickens's scenes of poverty and hardship are no more audacious and no more provocative than those in the pages of this stunning memoir." Walls grew up in poverty in the Southwest and later in West Virginia with her siblings and the brilliant, unorthodox, irresponsible parents who manage at once to neglect them, love them, and teach them to face their fears. Despite all her hardships, she develops the determination to move to New York City at sixteen, graduate with honors from Barnard College and become a well-known TV personality and journalist for New York Magazine, Esquire, USA Today and MSNBC.com. Her message of confronting your past and facing your fears resonates with audiences everywhere.