Philippe Petit has been Artist-in-Residence of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for more than 30 years and has performed on the high wire more than 80 times around the world. He also lectures, practices magic, and street jugglesÑfor which he has been arrested over 500 times. He is the author of several books, including To Reach the Clouds, the inspiration for the Academy Award-winning 2008 documentary Man on Wire, and, most recently, Why Knot? He has been a featured speaker at TED and other national venues, and he also walks on the wire and does street performances whenever (and wherever) he likes. He lives in upstate New York.