Philippe Petit (b. 1949) is a French high-wire artist whose celebrated walk between the Twin Towers was the subject of the Academy-Award winning film Man on Wire. He is also the author of Why Knot?, To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers, and Creativity: The Perfect Crime.
A critically acclaimed novelist, essayist, and translator, Paul Auster lives in Brooklyn. He is the author of many novels, including 4321, The New York Trilogy, and City of Glass. New Directions publishes his Red Notebook as well as his translations of Stephane Mallarmé’s A Tomb for Anatole and Philippe Petit’s On the High Wire.