AudioFile Magazine has honored audiobook narrators January LaVoy, Edoardo Ballerini, Bahni Turpin, Suzanne Toren, andJohnny Heller with Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The award celebrates an artist’s iconic role in the field of narration and recognizes those who have made significant contributions to the audiobook art form. Only 24 narrators have previously won the award, including Frank Muller, George Guidall, Simon Vance, Jim Dale, Martin Jarvis, Katherine Kellgren, and Scott Brick.
January LaVoy and Bahni Turpin have been the most active in sff. LaVoy has recorded such fantasy and science fiction titles as Star Wars’ Last Shot by Daniel José Older, Mother Go by James Patrick Kelly, Version Control by Dexter Palmer, Breach by W.L. Goodwater, and The Drafter by Kim Harrison. Turpin recently recorded The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson and won multiple awards for last year’s Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.
During the month of June, Golden Voice narrators will be featured on the Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine daily podcast. This is a link to the Golden Voices page, listing all awardees: Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Awards.
AudioFile Magazine’s new Golden Voices have won numerous awards, including Earphones, Audies, and Best Narrator, and Best Audiobook of the Year. Individually, they narrate everything from Biography and Mystery to Science Fiction and Young Adult.
A New York City-based stage and screen actress, LaVoy is a well-known voiceover artist as well as an audiobook narrator who records over 20 books a year. She specializes in books that speak to her, be they biography, suspense, fantasy, history, children, or young adult. She loves knowing that everyone from commuters to soldiers listen to audiobooks.
Essential Listening
- TRAILBLAZER by Dorothy Butler Gilliam | Read by January LaVoy
- ELIZA HAMILTON by Tilar J. Mazzeo | Read by January LaVoy
- STAR WARS LAST SHOT by Daniel José Older | Read by Marc Thompson, Daniel José Older, January LaVoy
- THE 17TH SUSPECT by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro | Read by January LaVoy
- BEFORE THE DEVIL BREAKS YOU by Libba Bray | Read by January LaVoy
A stage and screen actor, New York-based Ballerini has won many awards and recorded a wide range of fiction and nonfiction since debuted as an audiobook narrator less than 10 years ago. When recording, he relishes the opportunity to create an entire world for listeners by using only his voice.
Essential Listening
- THE VOLUNTEER by Salvatore Scibona | Read by Edoardo Ballerini
- THE LAST WATCHMAN OF OLD CAIRO by Michael David Lukas | Read by Edoardo Ballerini
- THE FIFTH TO DIE by J.D. Barker | Read by Edoardo Ballerini, Graham Winton
- ANATOMY OF A MIRACLE by Jonathan Miles | Read by Edoardo Ballerini
- THE PATH TO THE SPIDERS’ NESTS by Italo Calvino, Martin McLaughlin [Trans.] | Read by Edoardo Ballerini
Los Angeles-based stage and screen actress Turpin has always loved to read aloud, which makes her many awards – from Earphones and Audies to Narrator of the Year – a particularly meaningful accolade. She loves to voice dialects and relishes creating individual voices for different characters.
Essential Listening
- DREAM COUNTRY by Shannon Gibney | Read by Bahni Turpin
- SO DONE by Paula Chase | Read by Bahni Turpin
- WOMEN OF THE ASHES by Mia Couto, David Brookshaw [Trans.] | Read by Joel Richards, Bahni Turpin
- YOU ARE FREE by Danzy Senna | Read by Adenrele Ojo, January LaVoy, Cassandra Campbell, Bahni Turpin
- CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE by Tomi Adeyemi | Read by Bahni Turpin
Winner of the American Foundation for the Blind’s Scourby Award as well as many Earphones Awards, Toren has forged a successful career as an audiobook narrator for over 30 years. Known for the warmth, clarity and emotional power of her performances, Toren follows advice she heard years ago: “Allow what you receive to land in your heart and then come out of your mouth.”
Essential Listening
- WOMEN ROWING NORTH by Mary Pipher | Read by Suzanne Toren
- THE DARKEST TIME OF NIGHT by Jeremy Finley | Read by Suzanne Toren
- NEW YORK 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson | Read by Suzanne Toren, Robin Miles, Peter Ganim, Jay Snyder, Caitlin Kelly, Michael Crouch, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Christopher Ryan Grant, Robert Blumenfeld
- REMEMBER THE LADIES by Angela P. Dodson | Read by Suzanne Toren
- THE BOOK OF HUMAN EMOTIONS by Tiffany Watt Smith | Read by Suzanne Toren
Chicago-born and New York-based Heller is the actor whose voice-over line, “Mmmm-ummm!” convinced millions of consumers to succumb to the taste delights of Campbell’s soup. Since then the award-winning narrator, who also works as a narrating coach, has recorded well over 200 titles, many of them young adult and comedy, with his trademark upbeat tone and spirited characterizations.
Essential Listening
- VICTOR SHMUD TOTAL EXPERT by Jim Benton | Read by Johnny Heller
- THE POLAR BEAR EXPEDITION by James Carl Nelson | Read by Johnny Heller
- IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD by Danny Goldberg | Read by Johnny Heller
- HERE’S YOUR HAT WHAT’S THE HURRY? by Elizabeth McCracken | Read by Kate Reading, Johnny Heller
- WILD BILL by Tom Clavin | Read by Johnny Heller
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Thanks for this big post, Mike!
Turpin is very good. I’m not familiar with the others, oddly enough. I did listen to New York 2140 with Toren (it actually had multiple narrators), but at the moment I can’t remember the quality of her narration in particular — at least it couldn’t have been too bad! Incidentally, it looks like Toren also narrated The Overstory by Richard Powers, which I haven’t listened to yet.