BABEL: Tara Westover
Tara Westover’s memoir Educated—a #1 New York Times bestseller for over two years—has transfixed readers with its unforgettable story of self-invention. Born to survivalists in rural Idaho, Westover didn’t set foot in a classroom until she was 17 but went on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University and wow the world.
Come be inspired by her story of resilience and the power of learning to rewrite your own script.
In-Person Tickets Virtual Tickets Read Featured Artist Bio
Educated: A Memoir
#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER
“Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover’s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?” —Vogue
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Individual BABEL Tickets
Individual BABEL event tickets include a ticket for in-person attendance to one of the four BABEL events at Kleinhans Music Hall, as well as a virtual link to view from home via Livestream. All tickets will be issued via the Kleinhans/BPO website for the 2025–2026 season.
- General Admission: $48 each
- General Admission with Library Card: $43 each
- VIP Patron: $115 each (includes catered pre-event reception attended by the featured author and reserved seating)
- Student: $15 each (must use a valid .edu email address to purchase, and present a valid Student ID at the event)
- Virtual Only: $35 each
NOTE: Currently, proof of COVID-19 vaccination is not required for entry to BABEL events. We will continue to monitor health & safety recommendations and communicate any changes or updates to ticketholders as necessary. Please note that we are unable to provide refunds for tickets.
Planning on Watching from Home?
- If you choose to watch from home instead of attending in-person, the virtual link will be sent to you from babel@justbuffalo.org.
- You must be signed up for the Just Buffalo Newsletter in order to receive the virtual link. (To sign up, use the form in the footer of the website.)
- Click here to purchase VIRTUAL ONLY TICKETS
Date
- Thursday, March 26, 2026
Time
Doors & VIP Patron Reception at 6:30 p.m. | Event at 7:30 p.m.- 7:30 pm
More Info
Location
- 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo, NY 14201
Other Locations
Featured Artist
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Tara WestoverAuthorTARA WESTOVER is an American author. Born in Idaho to a father opposed to public education, she never attended school. An older brother taught her to read, and after that her education was erratic and haphazard, with most of her days spent working in her father’s junkyard or stewing herbs for her mother. She was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. After that first encounter with education she pursued learning for a decade, graduating magna cum laude from Brigham Young University in 2008 and subsequently winning a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
In 2018, she published her memoir, Educated, which explores her struggle to reconcile her desire for education and autonomy with her desire to be loyal to her family. Educated was an instant commercial and critical success, debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and remaining on the list for more than two years. It was also a finalist for several national awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The New York Times named Educated one of the 10 Best Books of 2018, and the American Booksellers Association voted it the Nonfiction Book of the Year. President Barack Obama included Educated on his annual reading list, calling it “remarkable,” and Bill Gates listed it as one of his favorite books of the year, saying, “It’s even better than you’ve heard.”
For her staggering impact, TIME Magazine named Westover one of the 100 most influential people of 2018. She was also awarded the 2021 National Humanities Medal by President Biden in a ceremony at the White House. Westover holds a PhD in intellectual history from Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 2019 she was the Rosenthal Writer in Residence at Harvard University.
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