Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Irish actor Gabriel Byrne’s smoky voice whispers in your ear, gets in your head, and takes you on a deeply personal journey of his life. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this memoir written in a style that feels like stream-of-consciousness poetry, with a gorgeous narration. Byrne reveals his attraction to the rituals of the Church, his desire to become a priest—until he was moles...

Author and podcast Luvvie Ajayi Jones narrates her second manual for authentic living with flair. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss her straightforward approach and conversational style that will have listeners nodding along. According to Jones, to be a professional troublemaker is to have a clear sense of personal identity and the ability to act without fear. She guides listeners...

Narrator Joniece Abbott-Pratt’s warm and vibrant voice embodies Marti Greenwood in Rachel Howzell Hall’s chilling and fast-paced suspense novella. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this new audiobook that is perfect for your weekend listening. Marti, a writer, is trying to carve out a new life for herself away from her ex-husband, Emery. She’s just moved into a new home in L.A. w...

Soneela Nankani narrates Farah Heron’s delightful contemporary romance with her whole heart, drawing listeners in with her enthusiasm. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss her skill at embodying the main character, Reena Manji, who has a job she doesn’t love and anxieties about her meddling Indian Muslim family. When she bumps into her new across-the-hall neighbor Nadim Remtulla, sh...

AudioFile’s Emily Connelly and host Jo Reed discuss Angeline Boulley’s stunning debut and Isabella Star LaBlanc’s powerful narration. Set on state and tribal lands in Michigan, the story of Daunis, who has grown up between two cultures, is told with heartfelt compassion. While Daunis is an unenrolled tribal member, she has strong connections to her community and has chosen to stay home and take cl...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss A.E. Ali’s sweet and comforting picture book, which Almarie Guerra narrates with a warm voice, perfect for young listeners. On Musa’s first day of kindergarten, his welcoming teacher, Ms. Gupta, promises the class that they will all become friends. Sweet-voiced Musa is worried, but Ms. Gupta provides a fun topic for the class—what is everyone’s f...

Xe Sands narrates with a quiet tension that suits the slow creep of Sarah Gailey’s sci-fi domestic thriller. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about Sands’s skill with delivering all of the slowly building suspense in a smooth first-person narration. Evelyn Caldwell is an accomplished scientist in the field of cloning human adults, although her victories feel bittersweet. Her husban...

Karen Cass vividly reads this captivating audiobook from Anthony M. Amore. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this true story of a 1970s aristocrat turned revolutionary. Wealthy Rose Dugdale, who begins as a conservative debutante who attends Oxford and earns a Ph. D in Economics, transforms into a radical supporter of the IRA She not only becomes a political revolutionary but mast...

Narrator Kathe Mazur carefully crafts the diverse characters in this entertaining novel. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Mazur’s talented narration of Carol Edgarian’s VERA, a riveting story set in 1906 after the San Francisco earthquake. Mazur’s rendition of whip-smart 15-year-old Vera captures her ability to see all sides of people, good and bad. Listeners will vividly imagine...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss David Sadzin’s performance of this classic 1912 novel which is described as evocative, even poetic. James Weldon Johnson tells the unnamed man’s story in the first person, and Sadzin re-creates the character’s intimate and intelligent tone and catches the cadence of his self-conscious yet assured voice. Race, race relations, and the complex story...

Performed with grace and care, Daniel Henning’s outstanding narration of this fine biography reveals, warts and all, the larger-than-life James Beard. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss John Birdsall’s biography of the renowned chef who is considered the dean of American cookery. Henning narrates with intelligence at a good pace, and gives the elegant prose its due. It’s an audiobo...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how this audiobook absorbs the listener from its prologue to its end. Narrator Rebecca Lowman presents the many complex characters with just the right pace and carefully acts the various voices. Lowman particularly illuminates the character of Hazel Saltwater, an introspective, damaged seer whose life is indelibly marked by events that take place...

Narrators Cassandra Campbell, Tom Taylorson, and Rachel Jacobs channel each member of the close-knit Senter family. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Meredith Hall’s audiobook, told with stunning performances that put listeners in the heart of the family before, during, and after a tragedy that changes the family forever. Set in the years spanning 1933 to the 1960s on a family far...

Jan Morris’s piquant, irreverent daily diary about life as a nonagenarian in the 21st century is brought to vibrant life by narrator Jennifer M. Dixon. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss the late Morris’s observations on everything from world politics to neighborhood birds, aging, and family. Dixon is skilled at mirroring the author’s humor and essential kindness, encouraging us to...

Kathe Mazur narrates Walter Isaacson’s clear and well-researched biography of Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna. She, along with colleagues, advanced biochemistry by employing CRISPR technology to improve and simplify genetic engineering—ultimately leading to a safe and effective COVID vaccine. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this audiobook that explores Doudna’s scientific ach...

This is an extraordinary audiobook about four extraordinary women who were war correspondents—the three women who are the subject of Becker’s book, as well as the author herself. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Lisa Flanagan’s skill with her pitch-perfect narration in this account of trailblazing women. Flanagan moves from the harrowing action on the battlefields of Vietnam to t...

Narrator Orlagh Cassidy returns to transport listeners back to bomb-shattered London of 1941. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this long-running series, which has followed Maisie Dobbs from her time as a WWI nurse to her role working with the Special Operations Executive. Jacqueline Winspear’s attention to the details of time, place, and speech, paired with Cassidy’s spot-on perf...

In our final look at the 2021 Audie Awards, host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb talk about some of the funniest audiobooks in the Audies competition--the nominees for the Humor award. It’s a category where comedians shine, full of audiobooks that will make you laugh out loud. The finalists for the 2021 Audie Awards Humor audiobooks are: THE NEW ONE by Mike Birbiglia, J. Hope Stein, read by M...

Hear host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb share details about the winner of the Best Young Adult audiobook. This year’s nominees include audiobooks that were beautifully narrated by the authors themselves as well as those brought to life by professional narrators. Be sure to watch our discussion with the celebrity judges of the Young Adult Audies category, authors Jerry Craft, Melissa de la C...

AudioFile’s Michele Cobb and host Jo Reed are discussing the 2021 Audie Awards all week. In today’s episode, they are celebrating the excellent nominees for Best Female Narrator, recognizing them for their excellent work on compelling audiobooks‚ and toasting this year’s winner. The finalists for the 2021 Audie Award for Best Female Narrator are: THE CITY WE BECAME by N.K. Jemisin, read by Robin M...

We’re celebrating the Audie Awards all week with host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb. Today they’re discussing last night’s virtual gala and the winner of the Audie Award for Best Male Narrator, a category full of skilled performances. The finalists for the 2021 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator are: ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE by Louise Penny, read by Robert Bathurst, published by Macmillan TH...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss their excitement over the 2021 Audie Awards, the Audio Publishers Association’s annual celebration of audiobook excellence. Tonight is the 26th Audie Awards—watch the virtual gala starting at 8:30pm ET at the APA’s YouTube page. Today, Jo and Michele are discussing the finalists in the Audiobook of the Year category, which are titles with high-qual...

Four narrators create a striking collection of voices that explore and celebrate little-known poems of Black women from the Harlem Renaissance. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this collection from poet Nikki Grimes that alternates a Harlem Renaissance poem with an original poem based on the work, using the golden shovel composition form. Bahni Turpin narrates Grimes’s poems, as...

Emily Woo Zeller’s melodic narration transports listeners to 1950s San Francisco in this coming-of-age novel about family, first love, and a Chinese American teenager discovering herself. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Malinda Lo’s YA historical fiction full of characters, places, and moments that Zeller beautifully brings to life. When Lily sees an ad for a male impersonator...

Quincy Surasmith narrates this middle-grade work of nonfiction which depicts, in detail, the harrowing rescue of a youth soccer team stuck in a flooded cave in Thailand. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Christina Soontornvat’s impressive work and the skills Surasmith needed to bring it to life. The narrative swings from emotional tension when the author focuses on the boys or th...