Writers Read/Hilltowns – Featured Reader Michael J. Ponsor

Michael A. Ponsor graduated from Harvard College in 1969, spent two years at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and received his J.D from Yale in 1975. In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed him a United States District Judge.

Ponsor has taught at Yale Law School, Western New England School of Law, and the University of Massachusetts. He has authored articles in The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, the Federal Sentencing Reporter, the American Bar Association Journal, and the Western New England Law Review. In 2013, the New York publisher Open Road Media released his first novel, The Hanging Judge, which went on to be a New York Times bestseller.  In 2017, his second novel, The One-Eyed Judge, was published. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts and continues his judicial duties as a senior judge while working on his next novel.

Here’s how it works: The featured writer reads recent work and describes the journey to publication, followed by Q & A. Then the floor opens to other writers, who can read for five minutes each; we also draw two names for 10-minute readings. If you want to read, put your name in the hat before 2:15.