Andrea Read: Of Academic Pedigree and the Common Touch

 

Article by Doug Holder

I met with poet Andrea Read after I heard about her work for the Somerville Cultural Capacity Plan  https://somervilleartscouncil.org/culturalcapacity  that will happen in late April. This project will involve conversations with artists and writers. Read will lead the discussion with writers--asking them pointed questions about their needs in the community.

Read told me she was previously renting an apartment in Cambridge, but she kept going through Somerville on her way to the Home Depot. She reminisced, " I loved that Somerville was hilly, and I could see a lot of vegetable gardens around. I felt at home in Somerville." So eventually she bought a house  (not far from where I interviewed her--the Bloc 11 Cafe)-- and seems to be happy with it.

In 2015 Read ( who has a PhD in Romance Languages from the University of Chicago), got her MFA from Lesley University. She told me, "I had  fabulous teachers, such as: Kevin Prufer, Steven Cramer, Cate Marvin  Teresa Calder, and others.

Back in the day, Read worked in the theatre as a dramaturge--where she read original scripts-- in order to decide what the theatre might be interested in  She worked at the Organic Theatre in Chicago. Later when she was studying poetry and art in Spain--she loved the fact that other poets and artists mentored her. She reflected,  "But in the states it is different-- so I decided to go to the low residency program at Lesley. She continued, " I was at a crossroads in my life. I could have been an academic or poet--I chose to concentrate on my creative side."

A number of years back Read started running a poetry group for the Little Sisters of the Poor ( now run by the VNA)  on Highland Ave. in Somerville. Read told me about her experiences there, " With this group there were special challenges. Although the group membership are not cognitively challenged-- I have to make accommodations with folks who have hearing and vision issues, for instance. The same people who joined in 2018 are still coming to the group--unless they passed away, of course. The members are not filtered--they say what is on their mind. They are open to the creative exercises that I bring to the plate". She continued, " One member who used to travel a lot, and cannot now--said she now travels in her imagination."

Read is a strong advocate for poetry as a healing agent. And indeed, Read brings poetry and healing--here, in the Paris of New England--Somerville, Ma.