The author, Thomas C. Foster, is a retired professor of English who taught at the University of Michigan, Flint. Since 1975, he has been researching, writing, and teaching classes on contemporary literature and creative writing. Toward the end of his career, he began to specialize in the work of contemporary writers such as Seamus Heaney.

His reading guides, beginning with How To Read Literature Like A Professor (2003) are pitched at both English majors and the general reader alike. They provide methods of understanding and appreciating potentially intimidating text forms, whether an English Renaissance play or a cryptic-seeming lyric poem. They also provide useful tips for high school English teachers, so have made inroads into the education system at all levels.

However, it is important to remember that both the selection of texts analyzed and the approaches recommended reflect the views and preferences of one particular professor and not the authoritative platonic version of the professor in the public consciousness. In the poetry guide, the reader may therefore notice a bias toward white male poets and the continual reappearance of favorites, such as Robert Frost and E. E. Cummings.