A Master Class in Reading Your Work Aloud

In the literary world today, writers often reach a wider audience through readings and live performances than through publication. Yet most writers are not trained to read their works aloud. Even well-known writers may read mechanically, monotonously, with too little—or too much—expression. In this master class, participants discuss what makes a good reading and explore the wide range of successful reading styles. The readers read a short poem of their own as if they were giving a public presentation, then get feedback from the class under the guidance of the instructor, who is an experienced actor, director, and radio commentator as well as a poet and Pulitzer Prize-winning critic. The readers get to “work through” to a livelier, more effective reading as they deepen their understanding of their own poems.

This event is free and open to all. If you wish to receive feedback on your reading, please prepare a poem of no more than two minutes in length.

Lloyd Schwartz was awarded the 2025 David Ferry and Ellen LaForge Annual Poetry Prize for his lifetime achievement in poetry and translation. His other honors include the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, three ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards for his writing about music, and fellowships in poetry from the NEA, Guggenheim Foundation, and Academy of American Poets. The Frederick S. Troy Professor of English Emeritus at UMass Boston, he has been the Somerville Poet Laureate since 2019. A noted scholar and editor of Elizabeth Bishop, he is also the longtime music critic for NPR’s Fresh Air and the WBUR website, and a member of the Advisory Boards of the New England Poetry Club, the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, and the Poets’ Theatre. His latest book is Who’s on First? New and Selected Poems (U of Chicago Press). He has offered master classes in reading your own work aloud since 1993.