Giving public readings is part of the writer’s job. Creative writers read to promote their fiction, poetry, essays, and plays; they read to help readers and general audiences more fully understand the artistic process and its product. Specialists in applied writing regularly make public presentations through which they instruct an audience in procedures and products; communicate with coworkers, employers, and customers through reports and proposals; and sell their writing services. For those who concentrate in composition and rhetoric, a career in scholarship and teaching depends on a series of presentations and responses to questions. Because public reading is a crucial dimension of the writing life, the MAPW program has prepared these guidelines to help you read at your best, not only in the showcase that is part of your program, but in the many occasions for public reading that lie ahead.

Objective

Present a professional image of yourself. As a professional you are aware that all kinds of people are in the audience and you have a responsibility to them. Part of that responsibility is reading appropriate material.

Present the Kennesaw State University Master of Arts in Professional Writing in a positive manner. Because your reading will demonstrate what the program can accomplish, you showcase the teaching of writing and the university as well as yourself.

Showcase Preparation

Time and Selection

Determine how much time you will have. This information, based on the number of readers, is available from Darlene Luke, secretary for the MAPW program (Humanities 222, telephone 770-423-6297, dluke@kennesaw.edu).

Select a passage or passages from the writing in your major field, not a support field, that you can effectively convey in the time allotted. In making this selection, you and your portfolio or thesis director should confer so that the public reading will project your best work.

Talk with your director about the information he or she should use in introducing you. Giving your director a copy of your résumé is essential.


Practice

Practice several times. The usual formula is one page of prose requires two minutes for a clear reading, but only practice can fine tune your timing. Reading with a digital clock is the surest way to know you’re on target.

Mark--with tags that can’t slip out--the pages in your manuscript so you can turn to them immediately. Fumbling for pages, apologizing for not knowing your own material, and deciding on the spot what to read do not project a professional image. The more control you have over your selections, the more positively you will project yourself as a writer.

Rehearse and time your readers if you are doing a scene from a play or a film. Determine how much time you will need to set up chairs or props. This time comes from your allocation.

Expect time to be called if you go beyond your allotted time.


Performance

Dress appropriately. The MAPW showcase expects a businesslike or professional look. Later, in other readings, your audience and occasion will determine your dress. But you might remember that even Dylan Thomas was faulted for looking like an unmade bed in his otherwise celebrated readings.

Make eye contact with your audience before you begin. If lights are in your eyes and you can’t see any faces, remember those in the audience think you can see them.

Know your material well enough so you can look up regularly, thus sharing what you’ve written. The more you can look up, the better your listeners can follow and appreciate what you’ve created.

Don’t rock back and forth. Keeping your weight on both feet is the best procedure. Reading dialogue is an exception; you will probably want to shift to establish different characters.

Don’t play with your hair, wear a baseball hat, click a pen, hoist a bottle of water, or let other distracting, inappropriate mannerisms weaken your showcase.

Don’t put your hands near your face unless you’re overcome with coughing. Hands near the face are distracting and almost always interfere with clear delivery. The best place for one hand is resting on the side of the lectern; for the other, moving lightly over the manuscript to keep your place.


Response to Questions

Be ready for a question-and-answer session. Anticipate questions and have answers ready. For all questions—anticipated and odd-ball—address them directly and quickly. You don’t want to take the time your fellow readers deserve. Project that you’re interested in all questions, and even if you’ve answered one a dozen times, treat it as if it’s the first time.

The MAPW program wants you to have a future in sharing your writing with the public appropriate to you. Knowing how to showcase your work is part of your obligation to your own professionalism.