As the crowd settles down, Andre Dubus III sips from his water patiently. He soon goes into an announcment to outline his detest for cell phone use while he is speaking, asking that anyone needing to...

Renowned author and essayist Jerald Walker grew up in a white supremacist doomsday cult with his two blind parents on the south side of Chicago.    Quoting James Baldwin when he was asked whether he...