Diana Nyad to Sign Copies of FIND A WAY at The Music Hall Next Month

The Music Hall's Innovation and Leadership series will present the world's greatest long-distance swimmer and celebrated sports broadcaster Diana Nyad on Wednesday, August 17, 2016.

In her best-selling memoir, FIND A WAY, just out in paperback, Nyad shares her extraordinary life experiences including championship meets, record-setting swims around Manhattan, and her 2013 Cuba-to-Florida challenge at age sixty-four.

The 7pm event includes an author presentation and moderated Q&A, plus post-event book signing and meet-and-greet. It will be held at The Music Hall Loft at 131 Congress Street, in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

FIND A WAY is a thrilling memoir that engages the reader in an epic feat of both endurance and human will. On September 2, 2013, sixty-four year-old Diana Nyad emerged on the sands of Key West after swimming across 111 miles of shark-infested waters between Cuba and Florida in fifty-three hours. Diana carried three poignant messages on her grueling journey, and shared them to the crowd in her moment of final triumph: (1) Never, ever give up. (2) You're never too old to chase your dreams. (3) It looks like a solitary sport, but it's a TEAM.

Millions of people around the world cheered this maverick on, moved by her undeniable tenacity to be the first to make the historic crossing without the aid of a shark cage. At the end of her magnificent journey, after thirty-five years and four crushing failures, the public found hope in Diana's perseverance. They were inspired by her mantra - find a way - that led her to realize a dream in her sixties that had eluded her as a young champion in peak form.

"In this challenging time in our country and around the world, it is great to hear stories of perseverance and success. Diana Nyad is remarkable - so determined, so courageous," said Patricia Lynch, Executive Producer of Writers in the Loft and the evening's moderator. "Her memoir inspires you to take a hard look at your dreams and realize there is always a way. We're excited to welcome her to our Innovation+Leadership series."

ABOUT THE BOOK

In FIND A WAY, Diana Engages us with a unique, passionate story of this heroic adventure and the extraordinary life experiences that have served to carve her unwavering spirit.

Diana was a world champion in her twenties, setting the record for swimming around Manhattan Island, along with other ocean-swim achievements, all of which rendered her a star at the time. Back then, she made the first attempt at the Mount Everest of swims, the Cuba Swim, but after forty-two hours and seventy-nine miles she was blown desperately off course. Her dream unfulfilled, she didn't swim another stroke for three decades.

FIND A WAY reflects on life's many obstacles and how to power through them, even when failure seems like the only option. Why, at sixty-four, was she able to achieve what she could not at thirty? How did her dramatic failures push her to success? What inner resources did Diana draw on during her long days and nights of training, and how did the power of the human spirit trump both the limitations of the body and the forces of nature across this vast, dangerous wilderness? This is a gripping story of an athlete, of a hero, of a bold mind. This is a galvanizing meditation on facing fears, engaging in our lives full-throttle, and living each day with no regrets.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

For her maverick open-water performance of the 1970s, Diana Nyad was known as the world's greatest long-distance swimmer. For the next thirty years, Nyad was a prominent sports broadcaster and journalist, filing compelling stories for National Public Radio, ABC's Wide World of Sports, and others. She is a national fitness icon, has written three other books, is a talented linguist, and is one of today's most powerful and engaging public speakers.

Diana Nyad's 7pm Loft event is SOLD OUT*, but all book buyers are invited to a meet-and-greet book signing with the author at 8pm in the Loft. The author will personalize paperback editions of FIND A WAY. Post show vouchers ($17 including $16.95 book) can be purchased through The Music Hall Box Office, located at 28 Chestnut Street, Portsmouth, over the phone at 603.436.2400, or online at www.themusichall.org.

In this Age of Participation, The Music Hall has expanded its programming to focus on issues critical to our time. The Innovation and Leadership series was first launched nearly five years ago to serve our local business community, bringing together the best and the brightest in technology. The series has since broadened to showcase opinion leaders, authors and all variety of educators, and to serve audiences from a tri-state region and beyond - all who are interested in bettering the worlds they live in, at work and at home, locally and around the world. These lively and informative conversations feature experts in their field sharing experiences and providing participants practical tools for making meaningful advances in their lives. From demonstrations in the art of all things digital to special forums featuring regional and global leaders in sustainability, from book discussion-demonstrations on the positive effect of meditation to awareness-raising events led by today's champions in philanthropy, feminism and family matters, each Innovation and Leadership event is memorable and impactful. The Music Hall is committed to community building and personal flourishing. Our Innovation and Leadership series delivers on that commitment.

The Music Hall is a performing arts center featuring curated entertainment from around the world in two theaters in its downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire campus - one, a landmark 1878 Victorian theater, designated an American Treasure for the Arts by the National Park Service's Save America's Treasures Program, the other the intimate Music Hall Loft around the corner, recently named "best performing arts venue" by Yankee Magazine and the recipient of the NH AIA award for design excellence.

With acclaimed signature series including Writers on a New England Stage - a partnership between The Music Hall and New Hampshire Public Radio - and the Intimately Yours music series, we bring top authors and artists to both stages. Also, HD broadcasts from The Metropolitan Opera and the National Theatre of London as well as extraordinary cinema fill both screens almost every night of the year.

This dynamic arts center urges patrons to Explore + Learn via master classes, post film panel discussions, and matinees for children. An anchor organization in this historic working seaport, The Music Hall is one of downtown Portsmouth's biggest employers and largest contributors to the regional economy: The Music Hall and its patrons contribute $7.1 million annually to the local economy through show and visitor related spending.

Innovative in its outlook, the organization is community oriented and committed to making the Seacoast flourish. The Music Hall is a 501(c)3 nonprofit managed by a professional staff with the assistance of a volunteer board. Though global in the scope of its artists and programs, The Music Hall operates independently with the support of 3,000 members, 300 corporate partners and 58 community partner organizations. Welcoming more than 100,000 patrons (including 20,000 children) each year from the tri-state area and beyond, The Music Hall is the region's center for the performing arts, literature and education...easy to get to, impossible to forget.