Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine

AudioFile is celebrating the 2023 Golden Voice Narrators, our stars of the audiobook universe who have superb performance skills and are keenly attuned to each author whose work they narrate. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten are honoring Nicholas Boulton, a new Golden Voice narrator who has narrated more than 100 audiobooks, ranging from 19th-century classics to science fiction, history, and romance. Robin shares a sample from his narration of THE DEAD SECRET by Wilkie Collins, which shows off his fluid performance style. He gives swoon-worthy narrations in romances, from the contemporary GLITTERLAND to medieval tales like DESIRE LINES. Tune in to our podcast next week for our conversation with Nicholas Boulton about his Golden Voice honor and his work in audiobooks. Essential listening from Nicholas Boulton: DAVID COPPERFIELD by Charles Dickens DEAD SOULS by Nikolai Gogol GLITTERLAND by Alexis Hall JUSTINE by Lawrence Durrell THE DEAD SECRET by Wilkie Collins Discover more about all of our Golden Voice narrators and their latest audiobooks on our website. Today’s episode is sponsored by Dreamscape Publishing. Dreamscape Publishing is celebrating Audiobook Month with exciting giveaways! Learn more on their social media channels or at their website, dreamscapepublishing.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten are honoring AudioFile’s 2023 Golden Voice narrators — the stars of the audiobook universe. These narrators have made significant contributions to the audiobook art form. Today Jo and Robin are celebrating Marin Ireland, a skilled narrator who loves to disappear into the stories she narrates, moving seamlessly among the characters and making each distinct for listeners. She won the 2020 Best Female Narrator Audie Award for NOTHING TO SEE HERE by Kevin Wilson, a surprising listen with interesting challenges for the narrator. Marin has an intuitive gift with her character voices, and those are on display in all of our Essential Listens. Stay tuned for our conversation with Marin here on Behind the Mic later this month. Essential listening from Marin Ireland: BEARTOWN by Fredrik Backman LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND by Rumaan Alam NOTHING TO SEE HERE by Kevin Wilson SLEEPING BEAUTIES by Stephen King, Owen King THIS TIME TOMORROW by Emma Straub Discover more about all of our Golden Voice narrators and their latest audiobooks on our website. Today’s episode is sponsored by Dreamscape Publishing. Join Dreamscape Publishing as they celebrate Audiobook Month with mesmerizing tales, talented narrators, and endless inspiration for audiobook lovers everywhere! Join them online on social media or at their website, dreamscapepublishing.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Golden Voice narrators are the stars of the audiobook universe. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten are announcing the 2023 Golden Voice narrators, an accolade that honors those who have made significant contributions to the audiobook art form and celebrates the iconic skills they bring to their performances. Today Jo and Robin are celebrating Kevin R. Free, who has narrated more than 450 audiobooks since 2001, as well as being an actor, playwright, and an artistic director at regional theaters across the country. He narrates with an infectious energy, and his performances have earned him numerous Earphones Awards and Best Audiobook honors. Robin discusses a sample of his narration of DIZZY by Jonah Winter, which shows off Kevin’s brilliant sense of musicality and rhythm, and highlights his many other audiobooks, including Martha Wells’s beloved Murderbot Diaries series. Stay tuned for a conversation with Kevin here on Behind the Mic in July. Essential listening from Kevin R. Free: Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries series RHYME’S ROOMS by Brad Leithauser SO THIS IS EVER AFTER by F.T. Lukens THE LAST SLAVE SHIP by Ben Raines THE LATE AMERICANS by Brandon Taylor Discover more about all of our Golden Voice narrators and their latest audiobooks on our website. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The late Morrie Schwartz was the subject of the popular book and movie TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Steven Weber’s narration of Schwartz’s posthumously edited guide to aging. Weber sounds seamlessly connected to the author’s timeless wisdom and altruistic spirit. With moving personal stories and observations, Morrie invites listeners to age proactively, to live creatively, and to seize every day and opportunity to fill our later years with joy and loving connections. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Blackstone Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Adam Lazarre-White draws listeners into the new thought-provoking crime novel from S.A. Cosby. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this story of Titus Crowne, the first Black sheriff in a small Virginia county. As listeners enter Titus’s world, he is faced with a shooter at a high school, a neo-Confederate group on the march, and a serial killer terrifying the town. This is a gripping, timely tale—beautifully told. Stay tuned for an interview with S.A. Cosby coming June 6, in AudioFile’s articles. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Eric Mok makes Martha Wells’s wonderfully inventive and diverse fantasy eminently accessible. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the fun of exploring a fantasy world written by Wells, well known for her MURDERBOT series. Here, Kaiisteron, a demon prince of the underearth with the power to possess other bodies, wakes up imprisoned and confused. When he and his dear friend, the witch Ziede, escape, they set off to find answers—and Ziede’s missing wife. The story jumps between the present timeline and earlier, during a devastating war, and we slowly learn more about Kai’s history. Mok keeps up with the fast-paced action sequences and voices many lovable (and some horrible) characters with skill. Listeners will hope for more stories set in this fascinating world. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Avi Roque gives a spirited and deeply emotional performance of Jonny Garza Villa’s queer love story. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this rich and lively audiobook for teens. Nonbinary Mexican American teen Ander is taking a gap year before college, focusing on their art and painting murals across San Antonio. When they fall in love with their family taqueria’s newest employee, an undocumented Mexican boy named Santi, it opens up their world in unexpected ways. Roque’s warm and musical narration is utter perfection, capturing Ander and Santi’s fear with vivid immediacy and infusing their voice with bubbly happiness at the thrill of building this new relationship. A hopeful listen that’s a heartbreaking, joyful love letter to queer Latinx communities. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dion Graham is a master of nonfiction narration, and he perfectly complements the flow of Matthew Desmond’s treatise on poverty in America, and how to end it. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this devastatingly clear and expertly narrated audiobook. Desmond is a professor of Sociology at Princeton and well known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning EVICTED. Here he describes the depth of American poverty, the history and devastating impacts, but he also urges listeners to become poverty abolitionists and end this national disgrace. Graham performs with energy and intensity, matching Desmond’s outrage, and conveys each statistic, quotation, and insight flawlessly. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Random House Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Poet and author Kwame Alexander joins Behind the Mic host Jo Reed to talk about his new memoir for an adult audience, WHY FATHERS CRY AT NIGHT. Alexander is the author of many award-winning audiobooks for young listeners, including THE DOOR OF NO RETURN, AN AMERICAN STORY, and LIGHT FOR THE WORLD TO SEE. He’s a familiar voice on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” and a Disney+ series based on his book THE CROSSOVER has just been released. In their interview, Alexander shares his thoughts about his parents’ influence, how he came to poetry and to writing books for children and young adults, and his experience narrating this very personal memoir. Read our review of WHY FATHERS CRY AT NIGHT on our website, along with reviews of more of Kwame Alexander’s many audiobooks for young listeners. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Magic flows as Joniece Abbott-Pratt brings to life Angie Thomas’s thrilling first fantasy novel. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Thomas’s new middle-grade series perfect for family road trips and young fantasy readers. Nic Blake has just turned twelve, and while she gets a pretty amazing gift (her own hellhound puppy!), her dad refuses to start teaching her to use her magical abilities. Nic and her father are Manifestors, able to use magic, though they live outside the Remarkable community and are always on the move. When Nic discovers shocking secrets he’s kept from her—and he’s arrested for a crime he didn’t commit—it’s up to her to find the truth. Abbott-Pratt captures listeners’ attention with her dramatic narration, voicing each character with heart and emotion and leaving listeners eager for the next story in the series. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harper Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Julia Whelan’s nuanced performance complements Emily Henry’s newest heartfelt romance. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this delicious summer romance that is full of all that listeners have come to love in Henry’s audiobooks. Every year Harriet and her friends vacation together at a cottage in Maine. Now the couples are moving onto big life decisions—but not Harriet and Wyn. They broke up months ago but can’t bear to tell the others and disrupt their tight-knit friendship, so they pretend they are still together for this last trip. Whelan’s narration makes for captivating listening in this romance that is also about growing up and chasing new dreams. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Penguin Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vanessa Johansson’s thoughtful delivery makes Martin Riker’s novel come alive. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this clever novel with a feminist economist named Abigail at its center. Having been turned down for tenure, Abigail spends a sleepless night prepping for a speech and examining her life and career and analyzing what went wrong. She’s joined by an imaginary John Maynard Keynes, on whose work she is about to lecture. This brief audiobook is captivating as it portrays a soul in conflict, while also satirizing academia. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Tantor Media. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss J. Ryan Stradal’s audiobook and Aspen Vincent’s convincing narration of the all-Minnesota cast. Vincent has a crystalline tone, evocative style, and satisfying storytelling voice. The four generations of women who shape the plot are each given a unique sound, and all are portrayed in the honey-glow of this mostly historical novel. The plot follows the dual course of two restaurant families: one founds a chain, Jorby’s; the other runs the Lakeside Supper Club in northern Minnesota country. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Penguin Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator DeLanna Studi accomplishes an impressive feat in narrating Margaret Verble’s historical novel, set in the 1950s. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this feat of narration told from the point of view of a nine year old girl. Studi’s depiction of Kit Crockett resonates as she captures the tone and often breathless cadence of the bright child. Kit’s Cherokee mother dies, and when her white father is sent to jail, Kit is sent first to soulless clergy and then to a horrific boarding school. Studi portrays the wise Kit as a person who skillfully navigates the natural world and knows how to fend for herself. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harper Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss the latest mysterious audiobook available on our Audiobook Break podcast. Mark Meadows captures the lighthearted sarcasm, subtle humor, and brilliance of the thief Arsène Lupin. In this collection of nine engrossing short stories by Maurice Leblanc, listeners meet the gentlemanly burglar whose powers of deduction rival those of Sherlock Holmes—and in fact he solves a mystery before Holmes even gets the chance in “Sherlock Holmes Arrives too Late.” Excellent listening for fans of the new LUPIN streaming series, or anyone who loves a good mystery. You can listen to all of THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ARSÈNE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN-BURGLAR for free on our Audiobook Break podcast. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Dreamscape. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this sprawling contemporary novel by Jess Row and how the cast narrates it brilliantly. Jim Meskimen takes the pivotal role of the narrator in this dazzling audiobook with a thoughtful tone. Robin Miles captures the angsty brilliance of matriarch Naomi, while Jason Culp portrays her estranged husband with eloquent restraint. The children in this Manhattan-based shattered family are voiced evocatively. Each narrator gives these heady, flawed, yet compelling characters individuality and grace. A fascinating portrait of a family in distress. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harper Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this historical novel set at the end of the Vietnam War. Aoife Hinds, Ioanna Kimbook, and Ainsleigh Barber perform this stunning debut that follows three orphaned Vietnamese refugees. Siblings Anh, Thanh, and Minh flee Vietnam at the end of the war, hoping to meet their parents at a refugee camp in Hong Kong. But after the rest of their family is found dead, they are sent to the UK to start a new life. Hinds performs the main portions of the audiobook beautifully, imbuing her performance with all of the characters’ intense sorrow and hope for the future, while Kimbook and Barber narrate intervals and short chapters. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Simon Bubb’s whimsical narration sets the stage for Lewis Carroll’s classic tales of Wonderland. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss the fun of listening to this collection, part of this summer’s Audiobook SYNC program and available free to teen listeners in July. In addition to the more familiar ALICE IN WONDERLAND and ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, the collection includes short stories centered on mathematical problems. Bubb lends a range of vocal characterizations to the many eccentric characters, and he deftly captures the absurd humor in Carroll’s style. Learn more about SYNC at audiobooksync.com Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Thomas Nelson. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Julia Lee performs her new essay collection that explores the complex lived reality of being the child of working class Korean immigrants in California. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss Lee’s emotional performance of the audiobook. During the 1992 riots in her hometown of Los Angeles, Lee had a front-row seat to the horrors of white supremacy. As she attends college and moves on to grad school, she has her own racial reckoning as she examines her complicity in America’s racial hierarchy. Lee communicates all of her anger and frustrations at the racism she experiences and sees around her. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Victoria Villarreal becomes the voice of a loving, tormented family member, Cristina Rivera Garza, who is seeking information about the murder of her sister Liliana. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this audiobook that bears witness to Liliana’s life. Villarreal uses a soft yet determined voice to characterize Cristina on her journey to find justice for her sister, and she captures the beautiful memories that Rivera Garza shares. This memoir is a beautiful example of a true crime audiobook that doesn’t seek to make a spectacle out of tragedy but rather honors Liliana’s life, seeks justice for her murder, and ties her story into the larger issue of violence against women. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Random House Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic podcast comes from audiobooks.com. Visit www.audiobooks.com/freeoffer for three free audiobooks with a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices