Top Ten Tuesday Audiobook Narrators
I haven’t posted a Top Ten Tuesday since ending my hiatus. So, I’m thrilled to participate in this Top Ten Tuesday. Of course I have a disclaimer because I can never follow the rules. There are twelve narrators in this list. Because, of course, there are! And whittling the list to twelve was hell. Notably, Audiobooks have exploded in popularity. I enjoyed them in the past but fell in love with them during the pandemic. Equally important, I have decided to start profiling Audiobook Narrators through interviews. The completed interviews will be linked in this Top Ten Tuesday post, and the ones that have not yet been completed will include their information. There will be more interviews to come! Finally, I want to throw out a huge thank you to Amber Cortes and Macmillan Audio for their help with the audio samples and for mediating with some of the narrators.
Top Ten Tuesday is run by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl, and you should definitely visit her blog.
Audiobook Popularity
Over the past few years, Audiobooks have exploded. Good Morning America recently did a segment on how readers are increasingly utilizing them. Karissa Vacker (in the list below) was featured during the segment. I urge you to watch this segment to fully understand how popular Audiobooks have become and learn more about Karissa Vacker.
Audiobook Narrators With Interviews Linked
Listed In Alphabetical Order
Cassandra Campbell (About Is from Penguin Randomhouse Audio)
Cassandra Campbell is a prolific audiobook narrator with more than 700 titles to date. Winner of four Audie Awards and nominated for a dozen more, she was a 2018 inductee in Audible’s inaugural Narrator Hall of Fame. Additionally, she has consistently been an AudioFile Magazine Best Narrator and a Publisher’s Weekly Best Narrator of the Year. As an acting teacher, she spent five years as a faculty member of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and has performed in and directed dozens of plays at theaters across the country.
Me: Most notably, Cassandra Campbell narrated Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Some of my favorites include One of Us is Dead by Jeneva Rose, No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfeld, The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives by Kristin Miller, and The Perfect Family by Robyn Harding.
Contact Cassandra Campbell:
Imogen Church (Interview With Novel Lives Linked)
Angela Dawe (Interview With Novel Lives Linked)
Elizabeth Evans (About From Elizabeth Evans’ Website- Linked Below)
Elizabeth Evans is an actress, writer, voiceover actor, and narrator. Acting: TV: FBI: Most Wanted (CBS) film: Where is Kyra? (Sundance, Killer Films), Another Day Gone By (Foolish Gentleman Films), Mommy Heist (France Télévisions), Days Like This (Foolish Gentleman Films), theatre: The Way of the World written & directed by Theresa Rebeck (Dorset Theatre), The Christians (Playwrights Horizons, chorus). Writing: Competition. For inquiries, please contact Jennifer Konawal at Luber Roklin Entertainment. Voiceover commercial: AT&T, Verizon, Walmart, Geico, Lay’s, Twizzlers (VO), Twizzlers (AVO) & others. Video game/podcast: The Callisto Protocol: Helix Station (Striking Distance), Starfinder (Amazon Alexa), QCODE’s “The Burned Photo” (Apple Podcast), 20+ Audible Originals. Audiobooks: 250+ Titles for all Major Publishers, Narrator of the Throne of Glass & Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas, Recent Awards: 2020 Audie Award Nomination, 2020 Earphones Award, 2021 Project Voice (Starfinder), 2021 Audie Award Nomination
From me: Most notably, Elizabeth Evans has narrated the Throne of Glass & Crescent City series by Sarah J. Mass. Some of my favorite work of Elizabeth Evans (no surprise here) is her work as Nina in the Six of Crows duology and One of Us is Dead by Jeneva Rose.
Contact Elizabeth Evans:
Lauren Fortgang (All Information From Lauren Fortgang’s Website- Linked Below)
Lauren Fortgang lives in Brooklyn with her beau, one resident cat, and one determined foster. Currently, she works as an actor and voiceover artist. Born in Wilmington, DE, she spent her early years in rural towns throughout northern California. Following training at A.C.T.’s Young Conservatory in San Francisco, she attended Fordham University: College at Lincoln Center, where she majored in theater. Her curiosity for tapping into varied niches of the industry has afforded her a broad career spectrum, both in and out of the ‘spotlight’ as an actor, singer, spokesperson, audiobook narrator, producer, and, on the odd occasion, costume designer.
Television credits include roles on Law and Order (NBC), Law and Order: SVU (NBC), and Important Things with Demetri Martin (Comedy Central). Her work in independent films has been showcased in a variety of festivals, including Queens World Film Festival, NYTVF, Breckenridge Festival of Film, and NewFest, and she’s performed theatrically at the New York International Fringe Festival, LaMama (50th Anniversary Season), and The Flea.
Commercial credits consist of national on-camera and voiceover campaigns for Google, Ikea, NY Lottery, Walmart, TJ Maxx, and Woolite. She’s given voice to a number of video game characters (MTG; Starfinder; GTA: Liberty City), educational materials, and long-form journalism for Apple News+, and performs regularly as an audiobook narrator.
As narrator, Lauren has worked with a vast roster of premier publishers featuring Audible Studios, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Blackstone Publishing, Hachette, Harper, Scholastic, and beyond. To date, she has voiced nearly 400 unabridged titles across multiple genres, including works by Neil deGrasse Tyson, James Patterson, Joan Didion, Louisa May Alcott, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Candace Bushnell, Ann M. Martin, R.L. Stine, and Brené Brown.
Lauren is both an Audie Award and multiple-Earphones Award winner whose work has been recognized by Audiofile Magazine, the Audio Publishers Association (APA), the American Library Association (ALA) and Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), School Library Journal, Library Journal, USA Today, Market Watch, Bustle, Forbes, Slate, Paste, and Publisher’s Weekly.
An indiscriminate hobbyist, she’s often occupied with any number of crafty passions, runs in ragtag trivia circles and tries to outmaneuver regular attempts on her life as part of a long-standing D&D campaign.
From me: Lauren Fortgang has a long list of amazing works, including her work with Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows (one of my favorites, of course) through the most recently released Hellbent (sequel to Ninth House). Other favorites of mine include I Don’t Forgive You by Aggie Blum Thompson and The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins.
Hell Bent Audio Sample (Linked):
Contact Lauren Fortgang:
Hillary Huber (Interview With Novel Lives Linked)
Barrie Kreinik New Interview Linked!
About Barrie Kreinik
Interview Coming In May!
Acting: Barrie’s performance credits include Off-Broadway and regional theatre, recorded media, concerts, and cabaret. She holds an MFA in Acting from Brown/Trinity Rep and a BA in Theatre and English from Cornell.
Singing: As a singer and songwriter, Barrie has performed at Birdland, 54 Below, The Bitter End, and the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Her debut EP, Unlearning, was released in 2019 and can be found on Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon. She was a semifinalist in the 2018 Lotte Lenya Competition.
Writing: Barrie began writing short stories and poetry as soon as she could read. In the intervening decades, she transitioned to dramatic writing and creative nonfiction, focusing on plays, screenplays, personal essays, and opinion pieces. She also worked for seven years as an editor of academic journal articles.
Audiobook Narrator: Barrie is an award-winning audiobook narrator with titles produced by Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, Harper, Podium, Tantor, Blackstone, Audible, and AudioGO. She specializes in accents and dialects, particularly those of the British Isles. Barrie won a 2022 Audie Award for her co-narration of Heresy by Melissa Lenhardt. She was an Audie Finalist in 2023 for her narration of A House Full of Windsor by Kristin Contino and in 2022 for her narration of Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. Her narration of We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart was named one of the New York Times’ Best Audiobooks of 2022. Her narration of Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales was one of YALSA’s 2022 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults. Click here for a complete list of Barrie’s audiobook narrations.
Me: My favorite audiobooks narrated by Barrie Kreinik include The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart and The Younger Wife/The Good Sister By Sally Hepworth.
Contact:
Amy Landon (Interview with Nove Lives linked)
Nick Podehl (All Information From Nick’s Website- Linked)
About:
By day, Nick Podehl gives voice to a multitude of characters that heretofore only existed on the page. By night he balances time as a husband, dad, and amateur armchair general. His castle stands proudly in The Mitten State where he hopes for snow each and every day.
Me: Nick Podehl is known for narrating the KingKiller Chronicles and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. However, I found and instantly connected to Nick through his work with Kel Kade, especially The Fate of the Fallen and Destiny of the Dead. Fun fact: there are about five audiobooks I’ve listened to repeatedly. Next to Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, Fate of the Fallen is what I’ve listened to the most.
Contact Nick Podehl:
Brittany Pressley (from Penguin Randomhouse):
About: Brittany Pressley is an AudioFile magazine Earphones Award–winning narrator. She is also an accomplished singer-songwriter and voice actress. Her voice can be heard on national and international TV and radio commercials, as well as in several animated series and video games.
Me: Some of my favorite Audiobooks featuring Brittany Pressley (I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE VANISHING HOUR By Seraphina Nova Glass, Out May 30th!!!) are The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf, One of Us is Dead by Jeneva Rose, Rule of Three by, E.G., Scott, and The Patient’s Secret by Loreth Anne White.
Contact Brittany Pressley:
Karissa Vacker (Novel Lives Interview Linked)
Julia Whelan (About- Feature From CBS)
I
Me: Julia Whelan has narrated Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books. My favorite books by Julia Whelan are Band of Sisters By Lauren Willig, It’s One Of Us by J.T. Ellison, I’ll Be You By Janelle Brown, and The Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian
Contact:
Those are my Top Ten Tuesday: Audiobook narrators (ten of them, there are more!). Do you have any favorite Audiobook Narrators and Audiobooks? Maybe some aren’t on this list, or do you agree with me?
I was so excited to see you participating this week, because I knew you’d have a killer list. I’m glad to see that I wasn’t wrong, and now you’ve given me a bunch of narrators to keep an eye out for!
It is so nice to hear that you were looking forward to my post and found some new voices!!
Great list! Elizabeth Evans and Julia Whelan made my list as well.
So many wonderful audiobook narrators out there. I posted ten, but really there are so many more than that I should have included. I love all of these you mentioned except for the two I have not listened to yet. Great list.