When an author writes a book, they create a new and unique world. Readers can enter that world, but they don’t typically have the opportunity to interact with its creator. With the aim of increasing students’ motivation to read, a series of online events called Speak with an Author were organized. In each event, a well-known author of graded readers was invited to give a short presentation about the books he or she wrote, including their motivation for writing them. All of the participating authors had been winners of the ER Foundation’s Language Learner Literature award. Over 500 students from around the world attended the free events. The only condition was they read the author’s books beforehand. Most read the books on the Xreading website, but this was not required. After the author spoke, students were then given the opportunity to share their feeling about the book and ask questions directly to the author. In this session, the presenter will discuss the first three Speak with an Author events, including the challenges organizing the events, the feedback provided by both the students and the authors, and finally plans for future events.