LeVar Burton Reads
LeVar Burton Reads is a podcast hosted by LeVar Burton, where he reads a piece of short fiction and shares his thoughts on it. Since its launch in 2017, it has won numerous awards and favorable reviews.
| LeVar Burton Reads | |
|---|---|
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | LeVar Burton |
| Genre |
|
| Created by | LeVar Burton |
| Written by | Various |
| Language | English |
| Production | |
| No. of episodes | 155, 192, 197, 206 |
| Publication | |
| Original release | June 13, 2017 |
| Ratings | 4.837837837837838/5 |
| Provider | Stitcher |
| Related | |
| Website | www |
Burton is well-known for his acting career, which included Roots and Star Trek: The Next Generation, and also for hosting Reading Rainbow, a long-running children’s television show on PBS. In reviews, LeVar Burton Reads has been described as “Reading Rainbow for adults.”
In each 30-45-minute episode, Burton reads a short work of fiction. Music and sound design are added to create a full sensory experience. “What audio storytelling does is it engages the listener in a way that visual storytelling does not. You are creating the visuals for yourself, and because of that additional level of personal investment, it’s enjoyable on a different level,” Burton told The Verge.
Burton and his producer choose all the stories based on personal taste. “The primary consideration for a story to be selected is that I love it,” he told Los Angeles Magazine. The show has included works by Stephen King, Toni Morrison, Kurt Vonnegut, Octavia Butler, Neil Gaiman, Joan Aiken, Haruki Murakami, Nnedi Okorafor, John Chu, and Oscar Casares, among others.