A Lovely Moment at Roland Lazenby's Reading

Roland Lazenby speaks--enthusiastically--before the gathered faithful.

Roland holds forth.*

Last night at the South County Library there came a moment in Roland Lazenby's talk about his new book, Michael Jordan: The Life, when I thought he might shed a tear or two.

A young man in the audience raised his hand to ask a question and, looking delighted, Roland called upon him and then recalled that they had met before. "Last time I spoke about this book," he said, the young man had appeared with a huge stack of Roland's previous works to be signed.

The young man looked embarrassed and then told his story. He was a kid with handicaps that kept him from participating in sports, but "your books" kept him interested and involved and gave his life more meaning.

I thought Roland would lose it. "That's what every writer wants to hear," he said, looking both delighted and embarrassed. "This is the highlight of my career."

That's a career that includes 60 books, thousands of magazine articles, teaching writing at the college level and being a friend and mentor to many, many writers. But his point is taken. It was a lovely moment.

(*Please forgive the quality of these photos. The light in the county library is simply awful for photography.)