One of the big events of the year at the school where I teach, Marygrove College in Detroit, MI, is our Contemporary American Authors Lecture Series held each April. This series, now in its twenty-fourth year, brings in a guest writer each year to give a free public reading and hold a master class with our own and area high school students.

As the chair of the department that hosts the event, I am the emcee for the evening, which means my job is to preside over the…