Robert Hughes is the author of two memoirs about raising his autistic son: Running With Walker: a Memoir (2003) and Walker Finds a Way: Running Into the Adult World with Autism (2016). A former professor of English at Truman College, City Colleges of Chicago, Robert is a writer and speaker with a strong focus on autism.

He has written numerous op-eds for the the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post and the Chicago Sun-Times as well as three “My Turn” essays for Newsweek. His essays have also appeared in Parents Magazine, Chicago Magazine, Parents, Elite, Dog Fancy and various autism publications. His commentary has aired frequently on WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio. He has a Ph.D. in Victorian Literature from Northwestern University.

Robert lives on the North Side of Chicago with his wife, Ellen, a writer and neighborhood activist. Their son David is also a writer, and their son Walker lives and works in a northwest Chicago suburb.