Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

This week, Michele Cobb joins host Jo Reed to dig into audiobooks built on backstory, beginning with Expert Witness, where Gabra Zackman delivers Anne Wolbert Burgess’ account of trauma, justice, and the evolution of expert testimony with clarity and restraint. Next, they turn to A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever, a joyful, detail-packed oral history of the 1984 film Spinal Tap—an ensemble cas...

Stephen Cummings joins host Jo Reed to talk about Laurie Gwen Shapiro’s immersive dual biography of Amelia Earhart and George Putnam, The Aviator and the Showman; Elliot Ackerman’s unlikely and darkly comic caper, Sheepdogs; and Mike Albo’s candid, audio-exclusive memoir, Hologram Boyfriends. Cummings reflects on what surprised him about each audiobook and why these very different works held his a...

Contributor Alex Richey joins Behind the Mic host Jo Reed to talk about three fantastical audiobooks and how their different forms shape the listening experience. The conversation moves from Brandon Sanderson’s story collection Tailored Realities to two intergenerational stories centered on daughters—Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite and As Many Souls as Stars by Natasha Siegel—where voice a...

AudioFile Magazine is now part of Kirkus Reviews, and Behind the Mic marks the moment with a conversation with the magazine’s founder and longtime editor Robin Whitten. Robin reflects on a life spent listening, how audiobooks and audiobook reviewing has evolved, and her excitement that the work begun by AudioFile will continue and flourish at KirkusReviews. It’s a thoughtful, forward-looking conve...

Host Jo Reed is joined by narrator Karen Murray to talk about HOW SWEET THE SOUND by Kwame Alexander, one of our picks for the Best Children and Family Audiobooks of 2025. Karen shares how she dove into this musical exploration of Black music in America, which “felt like home to her.” The experience begins with a poem as the listener is guided through the talking drums of Africa, to the blues, jaz...

Narrator Greta Jung joins host Jo Reed to discuss narrating ALL THE TOMORROWS AFTER by Joanne Yi, one of AudioFile’s picks for Best Young Adult Audiobooks of 2025. Greta discusses her connection to the Korean language and her own childhood, both of which helped her deliver an impactful, emotional performance. Jo and Greta also talk about the importance of stories that are especially resonant for c...

Narrator and actor Christine Lakin joins AudioFile’s Michele Cobb to discuss one of this year’s Best Romance Audiobooks, SAY YOU'LL REMEMBER ME by Abby Jimenez, read by Christine Lakin and Matt Lanter. Christine goes behind the scenes with Michele to reveal how she established the tone of certain characters and the unique challenges of being a romance narrator when they’re often recording alone in...

Host Jo Reed is joined by narrator Maggi-Meg Reed to chat about her performance in one of AudioFile’s selections for Best Multi-Voice audiobooks of 2025: THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans, read by Maggi-Meg Reed with an ensemble. Maggi-Meg talks about how she narrated this nuanced story about a 73-year old woman who is slowly going blind, while also dealing with a surprising DNA test. Together t...

AudioFile’s Michele Cobb sits down with award-winning narrator Eunice Wong to discuss one of our picks for the Best Science Fiction & Fantasy audiobooks of 2025: DOWN IN THE SEA OF ANGELS by Khan Wong. This cinematic collision of past and future comes together in a dystopian fantasy which is also part historical fiction and sci-fi. We’ll hear about how Wong approached narrating three different tim...

Narrator Mia Hutchinson-Shaw joins AudioFile’s Michele Cobb to discuss narrating Annie Mare and Ruthie Knox’s cozy mystery HOMEMAKER. We follow along with protagonist Prairie Hawk Nightingale, a homemaker extraordinaire, on her quest to solve the disappearance of her former friend. Hutchinson-Shaw shares what it’s like to narrate this delightful cast of characters, why she likes cozy mysteries, an...

In this bonus edition of Behind the Mic, host Jo Reed speaks with Sara DiVello, true crime writer, founder and host of interview series Mystery and Thriller Mavens, and co-chair of the Nantucket Book Festival. DiVello’s latest book, narrated by Jordan Cobb, is BROADWAY BUTTERFLY, which is based on one of the most notorious unsolved murders of the roaring twenties. Together they talk about growing...

Award-winning narrator Grover Gardner joins AudioFile’s Michele Cobb to tell listeners about narrating one of our picks for Best Nonfiction & Culture audiobooks of 2025: Rick Atkinson’s Revolutionary War epic, THE FATE OF THE DAY: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780. Gardner shares how he kept the energy up in this sprawling account of the second installment of Atkinson’...

Award-winning narrator Ron Butler joins AudioFile’s Michele Cobb to tell listeners about narrating Nicholas Boggs’ stunning audiobook, BALDWIN, one of our picks for Best Biography & Memoir audiobooks of 2025. This comprehensive biography of James Baldwin—the first in over 30 years—is told through the lens of the great loves of his life, something that has never been explored before. Butler dives i...

Award-winning narrator Shaun Taylor-Corbett joins host Jo Reed to tell listeners about narrating Jon Hickey’s debut audiobook, BIG CHIEF, one of our picks for Best Fiction of 2025. It’s a story about a political fixer, Mitch Caddo, who must navigate both political and personal dramas, while confronting his identity as a mixed-race Anishinaabe man. Taylor-Corbett shares how he found Caddo’s voice i...

AudioFile’s Robin Whitten joins host Jo Reed to discuss AudioFile’s 2025 Best Audiobooks. Listen to their conversation to discover how AudioFile’s editors choose the year’s best audiobooks, which titles Robin is particularly excited about, and to hear all the details on our upcoming interviews with narrators of some of this year’s honored titles.  Explore the full list of 2025 Best Audiobooks on o...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Laura Rossi highlight three recent Earphones Award-winning audiobooks. AudioFile awards Earphones to exceptional audio experiences—it’s our version of a starred review, specifically for the audiobook. Laura and Jo discuss: THE SLIP a story about a missing teenage boy, by Lucas Schaefer, read by Shaun Taylor-Corbett and Renata Friedman; WE THE PEOPLE: A History of the U...

Host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb to discuss three powerful memoirs, narrated by their authors. Booker Prize–winning writer Arundhati Roy returns with a complex look at her relationship with her challenging and ‘visionary,’ mother in MOTHER MARY COMES TO ME; an unflinching, polarizing memoir about Elizabeth Gilbert’s sex and love addiction in ALL THE WAY TO THE RIVER; and VAGA...

Golden Voice narrator January LaVoy speaks to AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb about the most recent entry in Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta Series, SHARP FORCE. January is a nine-time Audie Award winner, and she shares what it's like to revisit the voice of enduring character Kay Scarpetta, a forensic pathologist who now must deal with a new nightmare where tech, AI, and murder converge. January d...

Today host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile’s founder and editor, Robin Whitten, to discuss Phillip Pullman’s world and THE ROSE FIELD, read by Michael Sheen, the much anticipated conclusion of the extraordinary epic fantasy. It began in 1999 with THE GOLDEN COMPASS and with the story of Lyra Silvertongue, in an all-time-favorite full-cast performance. Lyra’s story plays out over six audiobooks—a double...

Author Brian Andrews, who is, along with Jeffrey Wilson, half of the author duo Andrews & Wilson, speaks with AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb about THE ADVERSARY, the ninth book in the Tier One thriller series, narrated by Ray Porter. In their conversation, Andrews shares his longtime love of audiobooks and talks about his persistence in getting Ray Porter involved as the narrator for the Tier On...

Host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile contributor Alan Minskoff this week to dig into three new audiobooks that delight and satirize, often using humor to shed light on social issues. Three unlikely characters bond in an anger management class in SNAP, a comedic novel by Susin Nielsen and read by Carol Schneider; a failed poet with a snarky alter-ego struggles with an autoimmune disease and a polyamorou...

AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb speaks with author and illustrator Christy Mandin and narrator Elizabeth Knowelden about the new audiobook MILLIE FLEUR SAVES THE NIGHT. This enchanting story for children, where night-blooming plants come alive, reassures the residents of Garden Glen—and the listener—that the dark is nothing to be afraid of, as long as you're brave enough to turn off the lights an...

This week on Behind the Mic, host Jo Reed welcomes our resident horror expert, Alex Richey. Together they discuss three gripping audiobooks that are more about the spooky atmosphere than jump-scares. A catastrophic event kicks off a series of bizarre deaths in LUCKY DAY by Chuck Tingle, read by Mara Wilson; a woman falls into a mirrored world in HEMLOCK & SILVER, T. Kingfisher’s unique take on Sno...

In this bonus edition of Behind the Mic, host Jo Reed speaks with actor Courtney B. Vance. His shelves are lined with awards—two Emmys, a Tony, a Critics Choice Award, and several NAACP Image Awards. Vance is also a dedicated audiobook listener and occasional narrator, nominated for a Grammy for his performance of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s and Avis Lang’s ACCESSORY TO WAR. Vance’s latest project is a...

Host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile contributor Kendra Winchester to Behind the Mic this week to discuss one memoir and two biographies which center three different writing lives: A deaf, mixed-race writer finding his voice in THE QUIET EAR by Raymond Antrobus, read by the author; a cultural biography of Octavia Butler, the groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy writer in POSITIVE OBSESSION by Sus...