LeVar Burton livestreams story-reading sessions on Twitter

American actor and Star Trek: The Next Generation LeVar Burton launched free, live-streamed story-reading sessions on his Twitter account.

He hopes that through the series called LeVar Burton Reads, he can spread love and hope during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I'm looking to give people some diversion and escape… not apocalypse," he tells entertainment outlet Variety.

Burton also has a podcast of the same name, but he wanted to do something that is free without any commercial deals.

The live-streamed story-reading sessions will be thrice a week, with Burton reading various stories for different audiences.

Mondays will be for children, Wednesdays will be for young adults and Fridays will be for adults.

He launched the series on April 3 with a reading of Neil Gaiman's short story "We Can Get Them for You Wholesale."

Similarly, Sir Patrick Stewart, another Star Trek: The Next Generation cast member, does daily readings of Shakespearean sonnets on his Twitter account.