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Voices to Know

AudioFile's newest showcase of award-winning narrators



EARPHONES REPORT JANUARY-JUNE 2023

Find the narrators who are getting the best reviews and coveted Earphones Awards.

AudioFile's updated Talent Guide gives expanded details on the audiobook experience and accomplishments of hundreds of narrators.

Link directly to reviews and complete profiles of narrators creating exceptional audio.

Sophie Amoss

Two noteworthy performance attributes emerge through PHALAINA, narrated by Sophie Amoss, both of which emotionally seize the listener: reacting and discovery. In this exemplary sentence—“She sat for a moment, and reflected on the possibility of rolling herself into a ball there, in a thicket, and waiting, but waiting for what?”—we palpably experience the character’s dissonant reaction to her reflection, to the waiting, and to the pained discovery that precedes, “but waiting for what.” This nuanced performance separates reader from storyteller.

Ferdelle Capistrano

In her first-person narration of THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL STATEMENT Ferdelle Capistrano maintains her organic connection to the sense of urgency percolating beneath the narrative. We are reminded that something is always at stake for the fictional teen protagonist—and her swirling, conflicted thoughts are reflected in Capistrano’s believable narration. This connection is foundational to creating a dimensional character who feels like a real-life human being. Thanks to Capistrano’s empathetic performance, we always care to listen. 

Highlights of single-voice narrations getting recent

Earphones Awards:

• Shiromi Arserio: LEARNED BY HEART by Emma Donoghue
• Mark Bramhall: THE REOPENING OF THE WESTERN MIND by Charles Freeman
• Carlotta Brentan: JUST A GIRL by Lisa Levi
• Pete Cross: ELF DOG AND OWL HEAD by M.T. Anderson
• Nicky Endres: TELL ME I'M WORTHLESS by Alison Rumfit
• Billie Fulford-Brown: THE LATE MRS. WILLOUGHBY by Claudia Gray
• Tavia Gilbert: OF SALT AND SHORE by Annet Schaap & A GIRL CALLED SAMSON by Amy Harmon
• Stacey Glemboski: SMALL WORLD by Laura Zigman
• Matt Godfrey: STALKING SHAKESPEARE by Lee Durkee
• Kitty Hendrix: AN ASSASSIN IN UTOPIA by Susan Wels
• Cindy Kay: FINALLY SEEN by Kelly Yang
• Barrie Kreinik: A HOUSE FULL OF WINDSORS by Kristin Contino
• Katherine Littrell: THE DOG OF THE NORTH by Elizabeth McKenzie
• Christine Mascot: MARRIAGE: FROM THE FEMININE PERSPECTIVE by Christine Mascot
• Gilli Messer: HAPPILY by Sabrina Orah Mark & FREE RADICALS by Lila Riesen
• Courtney Patterson: PESTS by Bethany Brookshire
• Thérèse Plummer: LOVE, THEORETICALLY by Ali Hazelwood & MURDER AT BLACK OAKS by Philip Margolin
• Elisabeth Rodgers: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE by Iris Johansen, Roy Johansen
• Channie Waites: WILD, BEAUTIFUL, AND FREE by Sophronia Scott
• Elizabeth Wiley: BLANCHE by Nancy Schoenberger
• Mara Wilson: SCORCHED GRACE by Margot Douaihy
• Eunice Wong: VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Deepti Gupta



In her engaging narration of 

THE BOOK OF EVERLASTING THINGS Deepti Gupta embodies intimate storytelling. And it is this intimacy—as if the narrator is leaning in to relate a story to a friend seated across a table in a quiet café—that emotionally connects the listener to the novel's myriad and nuanced emotional stakes. Thanks to this connection, we listen actively, involved in the characters’ lives as if what is occurring to them is happening not in the past but the here and now.

Daniel Henning



Throughout his narration of IN THE LIVES OF PUPPETS, a queer/sci-fi retelling of Pinocchio, Daniel Henning wends his way through a fantastical story that braids fantastical characters and scenarios. He consistently navigates this genre’s most important performance challenge: taking his characters seriously! In so doing, Henning reminds us that even the most fantastical characters do not know they’re fantastical; in their mind, they are emotional beings, sentient, real, not one-dimensional caricatures; therefore, they expect their storyteller to take them seriously.

Narrators in ensemble narrations are also garnering Earphones Awards:

• Jonathan Beville, Nancy Bober, Nicky Endres, and Cary Hite: RIKERS: An Oral History by Graham Rayman, Reuven Blau
• Joe Arden, Andi Arndt: RISE OF THE MACHINE by Erin Mallon
• Nancy Wu, Erin Moon: GIVING THE DEVIL HIS DUE by Lee Murray, Jason Sanford, et al.
• Stephen Graybill, Rachel L. Jacobs, Barrie Kreinik, Jesse Vilinsky, Braden Wright, Gabra Zackman: NO TWO PERSONS by Erica Bauermeister
• Janina Edwards, Leon Nixon: MASTER SLAVE HUSBAND WIFE by Ilyon Woo
• Ferdelle Capistrano, Gail Shalan, Caitlin Davies, Kirby Heyborne: WHAT HAPPENED TO RACHEL RILEY? by Claire Swinarski
• Cynthia Farrell, Dominique Franceschi, Aida Reluzco, Gary Tiedemann: THE FARAWAY WORLD by Patricia Engel
• Rebecca H. Lee: FOR LAMB by Lesa Cline-Ransome
• William Merryn Hill: LOVE AT FIRST PSYCH by Cara Bastone
• Jesse Vilinsky: THE LOST YEAR by Katherine Marsh
• Shiromi Arserio, Jennifer Aquino, Gary Tiedemann: A HISTORY OF FEAR by Luke Dumas
• Catherine Ho: PATCHWORK by Matt de la Peña
• Chris Andrew Ciulla, Xe Sands: STAR TREK; PICARD: NO MAN'S LAND by Kristen Beyer, Mike Johnson
• Cindy Kay, Catherine Ho: BANYAN MOON by Thao Thai
• Ron Butler, Gary Tiedemann, Josh Bloomberg: THE NEW EARTH by Jess Row
• Leon Nixon, Cary Hite, Ron Butler: RACHEL: A Play in Three Acts by Angelina Weld Grimké
• Lee Osorio: CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• Anna Caputo: CITY UNDER ONE ROOF by Iris Yamashita

And naturally, AudioFile's GOLDEN VOICE narrators rack up their share of Earphones Awards:

Robin Miles, Edoardo Ballerini, Dion Graham, Grover Gardner, Johnny Heller,

January LaVoy, Barbara Rosenblat, Simon Vance, Emily Woo Zeller

AudioFile's Audiobook Talent & Industry Guide features listings from the best narrators in the industry. Audiobook skills and experience are foremost in this focused resource for audiobook voices.