A skilled performer has the ability to take the written word to new heights, infusing an author’s work with empathy, warmth, and excitement. And representation matters just as much for audio as it does for any visual medium: listeners should feel and hear themselves in art driven by powerful performers and authentic deliveries. In this list, we’ve gathered a few of the in the business—along with their can't-miss performances to have on your radar.
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British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor may have narrated just three audiobooks to date, but in this case, it’s quality over quantity. While you might know him best from film (12 Years a Slave, The Martian, The Lion King), his audio profile is on the rise. As the titular general in and the voice of beloved children’s novel , Ejiofor had already voiced two audio gems—but it was his performance of Susannah Clarke’s 2020 fantasy that really knocked our socks off. You haven’t lived until you’ve been mesmerized by Ejiofor’s exquisite tone, inflection, and interpretation of this spellbinding work, which won the Audie Award for Best Audiobook of the Year in 2020.
Piranesi
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell transported countless listeners into its mysterious world. It became an instant classic and has been hailed as one of the finest works of fiction of the 21st century. Fifteen years later, it is finally time to enter the House and meet Piranesi....
Bahni Turpin is an all-star narrator, having lent her voice to some of the most talked-about books in recent memory, like Colson Whitehead's brilliant and by Ijeoma Oluo. Along with being a narrator, Turpin is an experienced television and film actress whose dramatic training lends an additional layer of depth to her work. Known for her rich, fully-realized renditions of a range of characters, Turpin's talents especially shine when she is working on a work with a lot of heart, like by Angie Thomas. Telling the story of a young girl caught between two racialized worlds, Turpin expertly embodies Starr's conflicted, moving inner thoughts.
The Underground Railroad
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 2017
National Book Award Winner 2016
Amazon.Com Number One Book of the Year 2016
Number One New York Times Best Seller
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. All the slaves lead a hellish existence, but Cora has it worse than most; she is an outcast even among her fellow Africans, and she is approaching womanhood, where it is clear even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a slave recently arrived from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they take the perilous decision to escape to the North.
In Whitehead's razor-sharp imagining of the antebellum South, the Underground Railroad has assumed a physical form: a dilapidated boxcar pulled along subterranean tracks by a steam locomotive, picking up fugitives wherever it can. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But its placid surface masks an infernal scheme designed for its unknowing black inhabitants. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher sent to find Cora, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom. At each stop on her journey, Cora encounters a different world.
As Whitehead brilliantly recreates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America, from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once the story of one woman's ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shatteringly powerful meditation on history.
2016, National Book Awards, Winner
2017, Books Are My Bag Readers Awards novel category, Winner
2017, Arthur C. Clarke Award, Short-listed
2017, Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, Long-listed
2018, International Dublin Literary Award, Nominated
2017, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, Short-listed
2017, The Man Booker Prize, Long-listed
2017, Pulitzer Price for Fiction, Winner
Prentice Onayemi's acting career is extensive and varied—he’s done it all, from voicing English language learning programs to performing in various theatrical works, including roles on Broadway. To put it mildly, Onayemi—who is also a member of the prestigious —definitely knows what he's doing, and it shows in each and every narration. Among his many stellar performances: his reading of Imbolo Mbue's . Telling a triumphant tale of immigrants in America, Onayemi expertly switches between accents, dialects, and voices, crafting a listen that feels like a full-cast production.
Behold the Dreamers
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR
OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK
A powerful and timely story of marriage, class, race and the pursuit of the American Dream. Behold the Dreamers is a dazzling debut novel about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – and of what we’re prepared to sacrifice to hold on to each of them.
‘We all do what we gotta do to become American, abi?’
New York, 2007: a city of dreamers and strivers, where the newly-arrived and the long-established jostle alike for a place on the ladder of success. And Jende Jonga, who has come from Cameroon, has just set his foot on the first rung.
Clark Edwards is a senior partner at Lehman Brothers bank. In need of a discrete and reliable chauffeur, he is too preoccupied to closely check the paperwork of his latest employee.
Jende’s new job draws him, his wife Neni and their young son into the privileged orbit of the city’s financial elite. And when Clark’s wife Cindy offers Neni work and takes her into her confidence, the couple begin to believe that the land of opportunity might finally be opening up for them.
But there are troubling cracks in their employers’ facades, and when the deep fault lines running beneath the financial world are exposed, the Edwards’ secrets threaten to spill out into the Jonga’s lives.
Faced with the loss of all they have worked for, each couple must decide how far they will go in pursuit of their dreams – and what they are prepared to sacrifice along the way.
‘There are no heroes in this marvellous debut, only nuanced human beings. A classic tale with a surprise ending, as deeply insightful as it is delightfully entertaining’ Taiye Selasi
‘Imbolo Mbue would be a formidable storyteller anywhere, in any language. It’s our good luck that she and her stories are American’ Jonathan Franzen
‘Eerily timely … bittersweet and buoyant’ Jessie Burton, Observer Books of the Year
Adenrele Ojo is an Audie Award-winning narrator who reads with great compassion. Based in Los Angeles and with a theater background, she’s known for giving each performance the understanding and care it deserves. From literary fiction () to self-development (), from romance () to blockbuster nonfiction (), Ojo understands that every story deserves a narrator who delivers the material to listeners with nuance and depth. Thriller fans should not miss her standout performance of Stacey Abrams’s courtroom thriller, .
While Justice Sleeps
From celebrated national leader and best-selling author Stacey Abrams, While Justice Sleeps is a gripping, complexly plotted thriller set within the halls of the US Supreme Court....
Tony Award nominee Joe Morton’s narrative style stands out because he has a voice you won’t forget. It’s thick and soft, yet a little rough around the edges. While you might know him from TV and film (Scandal, Terminator 2), his work as a narrator is equally esteemed, and he’s voiced such towering literary works as Ralph Ellison’s and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s . Morton’s voice conveys strength and vulnerability all at once, which makes him the perfect narrator for many different types of stories. His latest performance, Cornelius Eady’s , is based on the author’s National Book Award-nominated poetry book and stars Morton alongside Sally Murphy.
Invisible Man
Unnerving, how this classic seems especially relevant today — also incredibly significant because Audible’s founder, Don Katz, was mentored and inspired by Mr. Ellison:
“What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?”One might think there's no way for N. K. Jemisin's award-winning to become any more immersive, but with narrator Robin Miles at the helm, the story is elevated to new, outstanding heights. The Fifth Season is a work that changed the game for many Black authors in science fiction and fantasy, and Miles only adds to the power behind it with her skillful voice acting, bringing the characters off the page. And her magical performance of Jemisin’s novel is only the tip of the iceberg. A member of the who has performed works including and , Miles has demonstrated her inimitable talents time and time again.
The Fifth Season
This is the way the world ends. For the last time. A season of endings has begun. It starts with the great, red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash....
Like many on our list, Adjoa Andoh is not only an audiobook narrator but also a film, television, and stage actress. Her crystal-clear, lilting English is the heart behind a variety of audio hits, including the much-adored by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This novel chronicles the adventures of confident and witty Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman who moves to America to escape instability. Andoh captures Ifemelu's conflicted, fiery nature along with the many voices and accents of her fellow characters. It’s a superb performance that underscores Andoh's deft grasp of rhythm and tone as well as her ability to bring new meanings and depth to the written word.
Americanah
Adichie says that the title of this book is a Nigerian word for people who travel to the U.S. and return to Nigeria with American habits and behaviors. The lovers in this story meet in Nigeria, and the two of them end up traveling different paths when one goes to the U.S. and the other to London. Race adds another layer of complexity to this story, as the characters learn about what it means to be black in Nigeria vs. being black in other parts of the world.
In addition to working as an audiobook narrator, Kevin R. Free is an actor, playwright, director, and producer. He’s beloved by listeners for his performance of Martha Wells's —a work that fully demonstrates his excellent capabilities. Free brings Murderbot, a snarky, sentient robot that hacked itself in order to think and act freely, to life with a heartfelt yet robotic inner monologue. Beyond crafting tangible characters in tongue-in-cheek sci-fi, Free demonstrates his range in other performances, including his gorgeous rendition of Anthony Ray Hinton’s extraordinary memoir, .
The Sun Does Shine
By Anthony Ray Hinton, Lara Love Hardin, Bryan Stevenson - foreword
Narrated by Bryan Stevenson - foreword, Kevin R. Free
The Sun Does Shine
The Sun Does Shine is an arresting audiobook memoir of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading, written by a man who spent 30 years on death row for a crime he didn't commit....
Winner of the 2020 Audie Fantasy Award for her work on Alix E. Harrow’s , January LaVoy has expertly narrated a large variety of audiobooks, from thrillers to nonfiction to sci-fi. With deft skill, she embodies each unique character, switching between different accents and personalities in the span of a breath. Her modulated voice stays steady and calming throughout her performance, evidence of her experience in television, film, and the stage. Her chilling work on Brian Freeman’s and John Grisham’s are among our favorite performances, but we would be remiss not to mention her fantastic work on a number of Star Wars titles, including and .
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Winner of the 2020 Audie Fantasy Award for her work on Alix E. Harrow’s The Ten Thousand Doors of January, January LaVoy has expertly narrated a large variety of books, from thrillers to nonfiction to sci-fi. With deft skill, she embodies each different character, deftly switching between different accents and personalities in each breath. Her modulated voice stays steady and calming throughout her performance, evidence of her experience in television, film, and the stage. A few of our favorite performances include her chilling work on Brian Freeman’s The Deep, Deep Snow and John Grisham’s Camino Island, but we would be remiss not to mention her fantastic work on a number of Star Wars titles, including Phasma and Bloodline.
An actor who has appeared in films including Malcolm X and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Dion Graham brings substance, skill, and depth to every audiobook he narrates. His smooth, mesmerizing voice flows through works ranging from children’s classics like to the latest Walter Mosley mystery, alternating between voices so distinct they sound as if they’re performed by different narrators. Named an AudioFile Golden Voice and a member of the , Graham is an undeniable talent. If you’re looking for a brilliant title to start listening to his work, try Marlon James’s fantasy epic, , a stunning 24-hour-long performance of life and vibrancy.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf
Marlon James made literary waves with his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. He followed that book's brutality and pathos up with Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the first in a fantasy series that exudes the same level of frenetic detail and catharsis as the author's previous work. This first audiobook follows Tracker, a mercenary with a talent for tracking scents, as he is hired to find a missing child. The future installments will depict the same events through different characters' points of view. Brought to audio by the studious narration of Dion Graham, whose voice excellently captures the rage and coolness of main character Tracker, this is definitely a trilogy to watch for anyone looking to follow an exciting, ongoing fantasy series.
A-list actor Gabrielle Union has racked up some incredible accomplishments since she began gracing our screens in classic comedies like Bring It On and She’s All That. In addition to her pioneering work in activism, she’s written and narrated a best-selling memoir, , and two kids’ books, and , the latter of which she coauthored with her husband, NBA superstar Dwayne Wade. She also lends her recognizable voice to Tayari Jones’s audio-exclusive novella , a provocative family drama that explores a relationship between a Black mother and her son.
Dispossession
Motherhood isn’t easy, especially when you’re a mother of a Black son. Ten years ago, Cheryl jumped at the chance to send her son, Javonte, to an exclusive boarding school in New England - far away from Atlanta and the violence of the city streets....
J.D. Jackson is an audiobook narrator and a professor, so he infuses each performance with both a skilled voice and a strong command of the material. In the works he chooses, which often directly explore the Black lived experience, he gracefully wades through the text with a measured tone and a smooth baritone. Take, for example, his work on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic . Jackson voices one of the most important speakers, thinkers, and activists in American history with authority, melody, and heart, providing this seminal work the treatment it so rightly deserves.
Why We Can't Wait
By Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Cotton - introduction
Narrated by J. D. Jackson
Why We Can't Wait
J.D. Jackson is both an audiobook narrator and a professor, so he infuses each performance with both a skilled voice and a strong command of the material. In the works he chooses, which often directly explore the Black lived experience, he gracefully wades through the text with a measured tone and a smooth baritone. Take, for example, his work on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic Why We Can’t Wait. Not only does Jackson voice one of the most important speakers, thinkers, and activists in American history, but he also does so with melody and heart, providing such a seminal text the treatment it so rightly deserves.
You may know Dominic Hoffman from his role as Dr. Jeff Russell on Grey’s Anatomy, but this TV star is also a prolific and talented audiobook narrator. One of his most powerful performances is his rendition of Audie Award-winning Yaa Gyasi’s , the epic saga of two half-sisters and their descendants across time and continents. Hoffman’s fluid and lively narration guides listeners through centuries of story, keeping the narrative threads connected and their attention focused. It’s a skillset he’s shown time and time again in other works as well, including , , and .
Homegoing
Winner: Fiction
Homegoing, simply put, is incredible. The plot, the prose, the characters, the writing … there’s not one aspect of this book that "carries" the rest. Each is, well, incredible. Author Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel is none other than a feat — an engrossing family epic spanning multiple centuries and multiple continents. The stories of two half-sisters born in 18th century Ghana, in different villages, begin this memorable novel of triumph, heartbreak and resilience. One is married off to a well-educated and wealthy Englishman. The other is shipped off to America and sold into slavery. These sisters’ stories, their children’s stories, and their children’s children’s children’s stories will stay with you long after the book ends. See all finalists in FictionIt’d be an oversight not to shed some light on a remarkable up-and-coming talent in the world of audio. Shvorne Marks’s debut arrived when she voiced the runaway hit by Candice Carty-Williams, infusing the snarky yet lovable Queenie with an audible, charming personality. As Queenie navigates gender, race, sexuality, mental health, and more, Marks allows the listener right inside her head, embodying her inner thoughts with immense skill. We can’t wait to see where Marks goes from here—but we’re positive that, whatever it may be, it’s going to be a title well worth listening to.
Queenie
It’d be an oversight not to shed some light on a remarkable up-and-coming talent in the world of audio. Shvorne Marks’s debut arrived when she voiced the runaway hit Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, infusing the snarky yet lovable Queenie with an audible, charming personality. As Queenie navigates gender, race, sexuality, mental health, and more, Marks allows the listener right inside her head, embodying her inner thoughts with immense skill. We can’t wait to see where Marks goes from here—but we’re positive that, whatever it may be, it’s going to be a title well worth listening to.
Listening to an audiobook read by Karen Chilton is like snuggling up to a good story under a blanket next to the fireplace. While Chilton can change her voice to fit the mood of the text, one thing remains the same throughout all of her narrations: her warmth. The books Chilton narrates are often nonfiction about the Black American experience—her performance of the criminal justice reform classic is required listening. She also gravitates towards novels written by Black authors. For a dazzling example of her work in fiction, listen to Robert Jones Jr.’s , in which Chilton leans into a gentle southern accent that grounds the story to its specific setting and era.
The Prophets
A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence....
LeVar Burton—icon of Reading Rainbow, Roots, and Star Trek: The Next Generation—recently made waves as the most requested guest-host in Jeopardy! history (the people got their way). But Burton’s long association with reading and learning extends to his output in audio as well; his warm and familiar voice can be heard narrating Carl Sagan’s , Fred Rogers's bio , the music history , and , among other favorites. His debut novel, , an alternate history sci-fi that imagines a war-torn US after the assassination of a Black president-elect, releases this summer. Burton will narrate, of course.
Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry
By Gregory Mone, Gabrielle de Cuir, Neil deGrasse Tyson
Narrated by LeVar Burton
Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry
Neil deGrasse Tyson's number-one New York Times best-selling guide to the cosmos, adapted for young listeners....
Allyson Johnson is an actress and singer who began performing in her hometown of Chicago. At age 12, she co-anchored a weekly children’s TV news program, for which she won an Emmy. Johnson’s voice has been heard on countless commercials and audiobooks, garnering her AudioFile Earphones Awards for both fiction and nonfiction titles, as well as multiple Audie Award nominations. Her narration of ’s becomes one with the writer’s meditation on how and what inspires her. In her narration of new author ’s memoir, , Johnson brings her knack for seamlessly delivering a variety of voices in one performance.
Lost in Language and Sound
Lost in Language & Sound is a vibrant and vital collection that celebrates the three most important muses in the life and work of Ntozake Shange - language, music, and dance. In this deeply personal book, the celebrated writer reflects on what it means to be an artist, a woman, and a woman of color through a beautiful combination of memoir and essay. She describes where her love for creative forces began - in her childhood home, a place where imagination reigned and boredom wasn't allowed.
The essays tell stories ranging from the poignant origin of her celebrated play for colored girls to why Shange needed to deconstruct the English language to make that production work, from the intensity of the female experience and the black experience as separate entities to the difficulty of living both lives simultaneously; from the intense love of jazz bestowed on her by her father to a similar obsession with dance, which came from her mother. With deep sincerity, attention, and her legendary candor, Shange's collection progresses from the public arena to the private, gathering along the way the passions and insights of an author who writes with “such exquisite care and beauty that anybody can relate to her message” (Clive Barnes, the New York Times).