LITERATURE + LECTURES

Saturday, January 7, at 3:00pm, Blue Willow Bookshop presents Lisa Niemi Swayze. Lisa Niemi Swayze will discuss and sign WORTH FIGHTING FOR. Lisa is happy to sign items from home and take photos with guests, time permitting. Where: West Houston Community Center, 725 Bateswood, Houston, TX 77079.

LISA NIEMI and PATRICK SWAYZE were married for thirty-four years. They first met as teenagers at his mother's dance studio--he was older and just a bit cocky; she was the beautiful waif who refused to worship the ground he walked on. Through the years their marriage strained under the pressures that many do, but it was always a uniquely passionate and creative partnership.

When they first exchanged vows, Lisa promised to be with her husband "till death do us part." But how many couples stop and think about what that truly means? "Worth Fighting For "is a remarkably candid look at what losing a partner really entails--how to care for him or her, how to make it through each day without falling into despair, and how to move forward in the second half of your life when the person you spent the first half with is gone.

For the first time, Lisa Niemi Swayze shares the details of Patrick's twenty-one-month battle with Stage IV pancreatic cancer, and she describes his last days, when she simply tried to keep him comfortable. She writes with heartbreaking honesty about her grief in the aftermath of Patrick's death, and she openly discusses the challenges that the years without him have posed.

While this is an emotionally honest and un-flinching depiction of illness and loss, it is also a hopeful and life-affirming exploration of the power of the human spirit. Lisa shows that no matter how dark the prospect of another day may seem, there are always reserves of strength to call upon. She writes, "I tell you, I am a different person now. One who has been thrown into the fire and forged." Like "The Year of Magical Thinking "and "A Widow's Story, "this book is both a tribute to a marriage and a celebration of the healing power that each day holds, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Lisa Niemi Swayze is the coauthor of New York Times bestselling book THE TIME OF MY LIFE, which she wrote with her late husband. In addition to writing, directing, and producing the film One Last Dance in 2004, she has held many film, television, Broadway roles, and wrote, directed, and starred in the play Without a Word, garnering six Drama Critics Awards. In July 2011, she was honored with the title of Dame and invested in the Royal Order of Francis 1 for her work on behalf of pancreatic cancer. Before turning to directing and acting, Niemi Swayze began her professional life as a dancer. Lisa currently divides her time between Los Angeles and New Mexico.