Narrator Elizabeth Wiley’s enthusiasm for her craft is effervescent. Whether she’s discussing research, subject matter, language, or the narrative process, Wiley’s energy infuses her work. For her, each audiobook is a path to a new experience, and sharing that path with listeners is a delight. “It’s the connections, where you’re learning more about the world,” she says. “This is why I love doing this job!”
Wiley’s first career was as a theater professor at the College of William and Mary. There, she taught acting, voice, dialect, and directing. It was a role she loved for 27 years, and she felt fortunate to work in her field. Sharing her knowledge and skill with students was a job she took very seriously, feeling the call to bring her absolute best to that profession. Still, she recognized the appeal of voice-over work.
In 2011, Wiley started exploring the world of vocal performance, and she began recording in 2012. Ever since, she says, she has been “loving it, loving it, loving it.” Eventually, she saw the opportunity to take her classroom energy and devote that to audio work, too. She retired from teaching in 2021 and expanded even more on her vocal performance commitments. “It’s very fulfilling for me as an actor and performer, being in a field where I am contributing, where people are gaining a lot from what you do. I’m excited to be part of this industry.”
Wiley has a balanced collection of genres and styles to her credit. “I’ve worked with a lot of history and biography. I also love bringing history to life through historical fiction.” She adds, “Stories are the way we learn best. When we’re engaged with characters, and really invested in what happens to them, and it happens to be surrounded by a setting, circumstance, and cultural milieu . . .
Those ‘A-ha!’ moments are great.”
While she enjoys the process of narrating all genres, Wiley would love to try classical literature, noting, “The writing, the characters, and the story are so timeless and so superb that they get retold. It’s all about the language. If it’s written well, maybe there’s a little bit of poetry embedded . . . I just love it.”
Preparation for a project often varies. Fiction requires getting to know characters and relationships, and Wiley examines the work as a whole to understand the connections and personalities within. Nonfiction involves research on names, places, and enriching background. For Wiley, exploring any title can become its own project. “I do go down some rabbit holes. Rabbit holes are part of the joy. It’s fun to be challenged.”
Elizabeth Wiley’s positive energy enhances her considerable narrating skill. She believes in the value of stories and the lives that inspire them. “As with anyone in this field of creation and humanity, I just want to put in my word for the human voice—the human act of storytelling—because it's the connection with other humans, and nature, and animals that keeps us whole, healed, and healthy.”
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Photo by Asha McLaughlin
Leslie Fine is a longtime AudioFile reviewer and also contributes to AudioFile’s podcast, Behind the Mic
