The Best Audiobook Narrators (and Their Best Books)

June is Audiobook Month and to celebrate we wanted to share some of the best narrators out there. An incredible voice actor can breathe new life into an already great story. From celebrity performers to seasoned award-winning narrators, we’ve rounded up just a few of the most popular and outstanding voice artists around. Each brings their own unique tone and timbre to the world of audiobooks, and we’re grateful for it.

Prentice Onayemi

Before he became a successful narrator, Prentice Onayemi found work in educational narration until he transitioned to complete titles. During his university years, Onayemi studied theater at NYU and performed in many Broadway productions. He’s earned awards like the Audie Award finalist for Best Fiction Narrator and the AudioFile Earphones Award. Onayemi has even spent some time on screen in the popular series House of Cards. Making it onto Audible’s Narrator Hall of Fame, Onayemi’s voice captures audiences everywhere. Take a look at some of his best work.

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Featured on Oprah’s Book Club, Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue is a tale of Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem with his wife Neni. Through Onayemi’s voice, we see their life together, first when Jende lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards and then when Neni too is offered a job at the Edwardses’ summer home. But as a financial crisis shakes the world and the Edwards business is in danger, Jende and Neni soon notice cracks in their employers’ façades, ones that might jeopardize their own future.

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight

Onayemi takes listeners on a transformative journey of the great Frederick Douglass and the chronicles of his life. Author David W. Blight wrote this Pulitzer Prize-winning biography to follow Douglass’ life from being an enslaved man on a Maryland plantation to his work as an abolitionist. The story draws on information only ever seen from a private collection and very few historians.

Cassandra Campbell

Cassandra Campbell is a narrator who has been in the business for quite some time, and she has the accolades to prove it. From Audie Awards to Earphones Awards and countless more, Campbell’s work or better yet, her voice speaks for itself. With more than a hundred audiobooks credited to her name, Campbell continues to find ways to keep the story at the forefront of it all. Take a look at some of her work.

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Whatever is in the air, it’s affecting a lot of people and fast. The most terrifying part is that with one glimpse, a person is driven into hysteria and uncontrollable violence. Now five years after the outbreak, scattered survivors remain across the world, including Malorie and her two young children. For years she’s imagined fleeing the abandoned house where they live, and with the girl and boy turning four, she’s beyond ready to leave. Their twenty-mile journey to safety won’t be an easy one, and as they blindfold themselves for protection, she’ll have to rely on the trained ears of her children and the motherly instincts that tell her something is following their every move.

Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Over a decade ago, Piper Kerman might have been a rebellious young woman, the kind who would get mixed up with drug runners and deliver drug money to Europe. But as an adult, she’s got a career, a live-in boyfriend, and a loving family. Yet what happens in the past rarely stays there because before she knows it, a conviction and fifteen-month prison sentence is on her doorstep. Headed to the infamous women’s prison in Connecticut, the life Piper knew is gone, and now she must navigate through strip searches, arbitrary codes, and unpredictable women from everywhere she could imagine.

Alan Cumming

It might seem obvious that Alan Cumming, who won two Audie awards for his memoir Not My Father’s Son, would be on the list, and while it’s true, Cummings ability to bring other stories to life is what makes him a brilliant narrator. The Tony-winning actor has brought to life works such as Sherlock Holmes, Hans Christian Andersen, and an array of children’s books. Here’s another one of his great works.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

We’ve all heard the tale of the evil that lives in the town of Transylvania, and with numerous adaptations, Cumming, and an all-star cast of narrators have recreated their own, bringing to life all the horror and brilliance of Van Helsing as he attempts to stop Count Dracula from wreaking havoc. They pay homage to the late Stoker by returning to his original storytelling structure — a series of letters and journal entries.

Wil Wheaton

You may have seen Wil Wheaton in the movie Flubber or on The Big Bang Theory, or even in Star Trek: The Next Generation. But when he’s not on screen, Wheaton has a knack for narrating stories. He’s also a voice actor, author, and blogger. Wheaton has countless audiobooks underneath his belt and has twice won an Audie Award and once an Earphone Award. Check out some of his most popular narrations.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

For Wade Watts, living in the year 2044 is a real dread. The only time he feels anything, is when he’s plugged into the virtual utopia. He’s devoted his life to studying the OASIS and the puzzles it presents. As Wade finds the first clue, he also uncovers dangerous players who would do anything, including kill, to win the ultimate prize. While the race continues, Wade must prepare himself to face the very thing he’s so desperately tried to escape.

The Sandman: Act III by Neil Gaiman and Dirk Maggs

With the first edition of The Sandman becoming a hit on Netflix, it’s no surprise that the story would continue. Wil Wheaton, playing the role of Brant Tucker, joins the returning cast to tell the story of Morpheus and his family, the Endless. In Act III, Morpheus is on a journey to attend to family matters. Along the way, he stops to meet his son Orpheus, and later he meets another member of this Endless, his estranged brother Destruction, who abandoned his position long ago.

Bahni Turpin

When Bahni Turpin has narrated some of the most popular and critically acclaimed books around, it’s no wonder people consider her an all-star narrator. Turpin has also used her talents on screen performing in television and film productions like Cold Case and Malcolm X.  She has earned fourteen Earphone Awards, and nine Audie Awards, including Audiobook of the Year for the story Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. Here are a few more of her great works.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

For sixteen-year-old Starr Carter, life is in two. There’s the poor neighborhood where she lives and the rich prep school her parents want her to attend. Regularly, Starr can manage them just okay, but after she witnesses her childhood best friend Khalil lose his life in a fatal police shooting, one where he was unarmed, her worlds begin to shatter. Everywhere she goes, it’s all that people can talk about. Some call Khalil a drug dealer, others call him a thug, but Starr knows the truth about who he is and what happened that night.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

In 1962, in Mississippi, it doesn’t matter that twenty-two-year-old Skeeter recently got her college degree, her mother and the women of Jackson care more about finding her a husband. To make matters worse, her beloved maid Constantine has disappeared, and no one seems to have an explanation to give Skeeter. On the other side of town, Aibileen, a black maid, who lost her son, must carry on raising white children, her seventeenth child, to be exact. Minny, Aibileen’s best friend and possibly one of the greatest cooks around, has lost another job due to her sassy attitude. When the three women meet, they’ll begin to create a story that will shake up their small town and everyone they know in it.

Simon Vance

Sixteen-time Audie Award and Simon Vance have been the beloved English voice behind many audiobooks. With more than 26 years in the industry, he’s done countless projects, including Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, and many more. He’s earned accolades like the Best Voice in Biography and History, the Best Voice in Fiction, and a record number of Earphone Awards. Vance has worked as a BBC Radio presenter and newsreader in London. Take a look at one of his most talked about audiobook narrations.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Reg Keeland, Stieg Larsson

When a member of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappears decades ago, her uncle will stop at nothing to find her. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist, to investigate, and soon Mikael finds Lisbeth Salander, a pierced and tattooed punk, to be his prodigy. Together, they’ll discover family secrets, financial corruption, and murder.

Lorelei King

Lorelei King is a multi-award-winning narrator of audiobooks. She’s also a screenwriter and actress known for her roles in Notting Hill and Alien. You might also recognize her for voice-over work in the popular children’s show Bob the Builder. She’s been narrating for 20 plus years, has recorded more than 200 programs for BBC, and was one of the first inductees into the Audible Narrator Hall of Fame. Check out a few of her greatest works.

Going Rogue: Rise and Shine Twenty-Nine by Janet Evanovich

If you listen to any of Janet Evanovich’s books, you’ll probably hear Lorelei King’s voice. In this tale, Stephanie Plum knows that something isn’t right the moment she gets to work, and the office manager Connie Rosolli isn’t there. Connie, who is as reliable as they come, never misses a day. Then an abductor calls Stephanie demanding that he release Connie only if he gets his hands on a mysterious coin. Unfortunately, the coin, is too missing, leaving Stephanie on a quest to save Connie’s life and discover why this coin is so valuable.

A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones

Lorelei King’s humorous tone also appears in numerous Darynda Jones novels. In Bad Day for Sunshine, Sheriff Sunshine Vicram just discovered that the small village of Del Sol, New Mexico has a kidnapper on the loose, and a teenage girl is missing. To make matters more complicated, she’s having trouble at her daughter’s new school, a prized rooster named Puff Daddy is missing, and an old flame comes into her life stirring up her emotions. Can Sunshine stop the kidnapper stuck in her hometown, or will the call of duty be too much for her to handle?