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The 12 best biographies of 2024

Throughout 2024, biographies consistently stole the show. From renowned authors to heads of state, game-changing activists and cultural icons, these 12 illuminating profiles delighted and inspired us.
Throughout 2024, biographies consistently stole the show. From renowned authors to heads of state, game-changing activists and cultural icons, these 12 illuminating profiles delighted and inspired us.
NonfictionSocial ScienceHistory

Custodians of Wonder

Eliot Stein’s vivid Custodians of Wonder documents the last people maintaining some of the world’s ancient cultural traditions, and proves that comfort, community and beauty never get old.
Eliot Stein’s vivid Custodians of Wonder documents the last people maintaining some of the world’s ancient cultural traditions, and proves that comfort, community and beauty never get old.
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Karen Abbott

Jazz-Age America promises all the drama you could ever hope for: bootleggers and flappers, parties and criminals and crooked government agents. All this and more come alive in Karen Abbott’s compulsively readable The Ghosts of Eden Park.
NonfictionMemoir

Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman

Interview by Cat, Deputy Editor

Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman’s memoir, Sounds Like Titanic, has one of the best narrative setups of the year—or maybe ever. It’s about the nearly four years Hindman spent as a violinist in an ensemble led by a man whom she refers to only as the Composer. Hindman and the other musicians performed shows across America as part of a bizarre deception: The musicians didn't make the music, but it instead comes from a hidden CD player hooked up to the speakers. 

Hindman has swapped her orchestral touring for book touring, and we reached out to find out how it’s been going.

What have you most enjoyed about interacting with your readership of Sounds Like Titanic?
Am I allowed to say receiving lavish praise from strangers? Because that is very enjoyable! On a more serious note, I would say that the most meaningful interactions I’ve had have been with women who are 20 to 30 years older than I am. I wrote the book for fellow millennials, but I’ve had a lot of response from baby boomers about their own struggles with body image. This has surprised me and led to some really emotional, important conversations.

When visiting a city for a book event, do you have any rituals, either for yourself or to get to know the city?
It’s funny—Sounds Like Titanic chronicles my time touring the country as a fake violinist in 2004. I haven’t traveled like that, from city to city, until now, on book tour. Many of the travel rituals of a fake violinist are the same as a real author: going for walks in the new city, going out to eat at a local restaurant, soaking it all in while also conserving energy for the actual “performance” or event.

What is the mark of a really great book event?
Reading and writing are solitary activities, whereas a book event is social. A good book event gets readers and writers interacting with each other in a way that is still comfortable for introverts.

If you could sit in the audience for an event with any author, living or dead, who would you like to see read from and discuss their book?
There is no way I can pick a single author or book for this – can I put together a dream conference instead?

  • Panel #1: Good Wives: Louisa May Alcott in conversation with Jane Austen, moderated by Maxine Hong Kingston.
     
  • Panel #2: Mockingbirds and Caged Birds: Maya Angelou in conversation with Harper Lee.
     
  • Panel #3 is just Mark Twain getting grilled with difficult and uncomfortable questions from Virginia Woolf and Toni Morrison.
     
  • Panel #4: Hey—That’s My Book!: Writers overlooked by history point out that they actually wrote the book that someone else took credit for.
     
  • Panel #5: How to Be Brave and Good: A panel discussion with Frederick Douglass, George Orwell and Nawal El Saadawi, moderated by Barbara Ehrenreich.
     

Has a reader ever asked a question or made a comment at an event that made you see your work in a new light?
Yes, at my book launch, one of my work colleagues asked whether a female composer could get away with faking concerts like the Composer in my book, who is male. I hadn’t thought about it in exactly those terms before. And I realized that no, the Composer was able to fool audiences precisely because he fit what our society thinks a composer looks like: white, male, lots of hair, somewhat tortured-looking.

What is most challenging to discuss with readers about your book or the writing process?
The most challenging thing to discuss about my book is all of the things that I deliberately left out of the book. I worked really hard to make Sounds Like Titanic as honest and true as I could make it. It is a crafted narrative with a focused goal: to give readers the experience of one small slice of my life. But real life is much bigger than any one book, and there are many things I deliberately left out because I felt they were too personal or private to reveal about myself or the other characters, who are all real people with real feelings. Memoir is always an act of choosing what to reveal and, just as crucially, what not to.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our interview with Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman for Sounds Like Titanic.

Author photo by Vanessa Borer

Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman has swapped her performances in a fake orchestra for book touring.

Adrienne Brodeur

After a lifetime as her family’s secret keeper, Adrienne Brodeur faces the truth, finds compassion for her mother and breaks a generations-long pattern of dysfunction.
NonfictionMemoir

Margaret Renkl

Interview by Cat, Deputy Editor

For members of the Nashville literary community, Margaret Renkl is something of a hometown hero: beloved naturalist writer and memoirist; New York Times opinion writer on Southern issues and the natural world; and the founding editor of Chapter 16, Humanities Tennessee’s online literary journal. Humanities Tennessee also hosts the Southern Festival of Books, which Renkl will attend as an author for the first time with her astounding memoir, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.

What’s it like to be part of the Southern Festival of Books as an author after so many years from the other side?
I haven’t found the words yet to describe what it will mean to me to wear a nametag at the Southern Festival of Books that says “Author” under my name. I’ve been in Nashville for 32 years, almost exactly the same number of years the festival has existed, so this event always feels like a family reunion to me, but this year will be so special. More like a homecoming, a family reunion and a wedding dance all at the same time.

What is the mark of a really great book event?
One thing I’ve learned this year is just how many different kinds of great book events there are, but the one thing they all seem to have in common is community. A great book event links all the parts of the literary ecosystem together under one roof (or one tent). It’s a gift to everybody involved when all the people who love books—readers and writers and publishing people and booksellers and teachers and librarians—can meet each other in real life and not just online.

What have you most enjoyed about interacting with the readership of Late Migrations?
It’s been wonderful to hear readers tell their own stories—stories of family love, stories of deep loss, stories of the natural world in their own backyards. Writing is solitary work, often isolating work, but meeting readers reminds me that we’re all in this world together, all doing the best we can. And that we have more in common than we ever truly understand.

“Writing is solitary work, often isolating work, but meeting readers reminds me that we’re all in this world together, all doing the best we can.”

If you could sit in the audience for an event with any author, living or dead, who would you like to see read from and discuss their book?
I would give almost anything to be in the audience at the Globe Theater, watching Shakespeare’s words brought to life by his own acting company. If I get to choose the play, too, it’s King Lear.

What have you learned about your book through your interactions with its readers that you didn’t know before it was published?
There are all kinds of deliberate connections in this book—ways I tried to knit ideas and worlds together, ways I hoped certain words or images would echo across the book—but I’ve been surprised by how many connections other people have found that weren’t deliberate at all. Maybe they’re happy accidents, or maybe I created the connections unconsciously, but either way it’s been a delight to have readers point them out to me.

And of course, we need some Alabama content! Roll Tide or War Eagle?
I’m a proud graduate of Auburn University, Class of 1984. War damn eagle, as they say in the loveliest village!

White sauce or BBQ sauce?
White sauce is barbecue sauce where I come from. And it’s the best of all the barbecue sauces.

Harper Lee or Truman Capote?
Wait, these are getting harder. I don’t have a favorite child, and I don’t have a favorite home-state writer. I love them both.

The Louvin Brothers or Hank Williams?
Give me “the Hillbilly Shakespeare” any day. Hank Williams was a poet.

Yellowhammers or eastern tiger swallowtails?
See the Lee-Capote question above. I truly can’t possibly choose between birds and butterflies.

Pecans or pawpaws?
Pecans. I spent half my childhood playing in my grandparents’ pecan orchard, and the very smell of a cracked pecan brings that whole beautiful world right back to me in an instant.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Late Migrations.

Author photo by Heidi Ross

For members of the Nashville literary community, Margaret Renkl is something of a hometown hero, and she attends this year’s Southern Festival of Books as an author for the first time with her astounding memoir, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.

NonfictionLifestyles

Laura Weir

Interview by Anna Christensen

Laura Weir distills all her wisdom about how to be comfortable, contented and snug.

“I’m an 84-year-old granny!” Laura Weir says with a laugh, but if that were true, she’d be the most posh granny you’d ever met. Weir is the editor-in-chief of the London Evening Standard’s weekly magazine, a former senior staffer at British Vogue and the author of Cosy: The British Art of Comfort, a book for anyone who worships at the altar of wool blankets, rain on roofs and noses in books. (And that’s cosy with an s, mind you, as the queen intended.)

Despite her impressive resume, Weir feels like your most engaging and comfortable friend, the one you curl up with on the couch, glass of wine in hand and a movie on the television to half-watch as you laugh and chat into the night. As we settle into our Facetime conversation over the Atlantic, she’s loose-limbed and relaxed, throwing her elbows onto the table in front of her and resting her head on one hand.

“I always thought I was quite lazy, really, and I just liked staying in,” Weir tells me. “But to actually repackage it and reframe it as a cosy sensibility allowed me to draw upon a lot of knowledge that I didn’t know I had.” 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Gift books for homebodies

This propensity toward so-called laziness seems at odds with the outward life of a busy writer and editor. How did someone with days that move as quickly as Weir’s come to write such a charming book about lying around and taking country walks?

“It’s exactly that,” Weir says, leaning in and nodding enthusiastically. “I have such a busy life. But I feel like I’ve always been the queen of cosy. When I’m not working, I’m at home on the sofa or in bed with my cat, just to switch off.” Realizing this might feel familiar to others with hectic lives, Weir wrote a column about this lesser-seen part of her life for the Evening Standard. A book publisher read the column and agreed with Weir, and the rest is warm and candlelit history.

This isn’t the first time the concept of comfort and well-being has moved to the forefront of the world’s consciousness. It would have been difficult to miss the rise of hygge, the Danish equivalent of cosiness that sparked an onslaught of books, candles and Pinterest boards only a few years ago.

“Hygge is actually very authentic, and it takes a lot of effort,” Weir says, pondering the differences between the Danish and British ideas of comfort. “Nowadays, hygge has been cultured as very stylish, where I think that the British cosy has an eccentricity to it which is like a patchwork quilt.” She pauses. “And obviously there’s tea.”

“British cosy has an eccentricity to it which is like a patchwork quilt. And obviously there’s tea.”

As any cosy acolyte will attest, tea is a serious thing. “It’s about this idea of having a moment,” Weir says. “We’re all seeking those moments to have a bit of time to ourselves. When you’re making a cup of tea, that’s literally the only time that so many people have to stop, and think, and take a breath.”

Despite her packed hours, Weir is clearly in no mood to make anything in her personal life move any faster. Mentioning that she is in the process of remodeling her kitchen, she shudders at the notion of adding a convenient hot-water tap. “What’s so wrong with filling a kettle?” she says.

One of the largest trends over the last few (politically fraught) years has been, in essence, to retreat back to our dens and wrap ourselves securely in blankets, burrowing away from the outside world—cosiness as anesthetic. “The more turbulent the climate, the more we seek solace in the things that we can control,” Weir says. “Whether you look at the political climate in the U.S. or back in England with Brexit on the horizon, certainly the sentiment moves away from risk-taking and towards wanting reassurance.”

But cosiness isn’t found only in solitude. There’s often a relational quality to it, a desire to share that safe space with the important people in our lives. Weir shares her space with her young daughter, trying to re-create for her the sort of simplified childhood Weir had. “My parents were never preoccupied with what other people thought. They never kept up with the Joneses. My memories are very much just being with my mum and my dad and my sister, camping and going sledging, and there always being a fire on. Probably because we didn’t have central heating!”

Cosiness may seem like a light and frivolous concept, but it offers reprieve from worries about an uncertain future. As Weir so gently reminds us, cosy is being in the moment, enjoying everything that remains precious and beautiful about life and sharing it with people we love.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Cosy.

Author photo © Gabrielle Cooper

Laura Weir distills all her wisdom about how to be comfortable, contented and snug.
NonfictionBiography

Alexis Coe

Interview by Amy Scribner

Although it’s as well researched as any of the myriad George Washington biographies out there, Alexis Coe’s You Never Forget Your First approaches its legendary subject with a healthy dose of irreverence. We asked the historian a few questions about what it was like to tackle the life of the ultimate Founding Father.

You infused a fairly serious subject with humor and liveliness. How did you do it?
That’s the ultimate compliment! If history is boring, it’s the historian’s fault. I happen to have a dark sense of humor, and I realized early in my career that it was a useful tool—but not the only one in my arsenal. Being funny, being original, being analytical . . . it all requires serious mastery over a subject. Years of careful research and a critical eye allowed me to be funny in one chapter and dead serious in another and, hopefully, seamless in the transition. Oh, and lots and lots of drafts! 

What did you want to bring to the table as a female biographer that would shine a new or different light on Washington?
Previous biographers and I agree on the big goal of a Washington biography, which is to chisel away at the marble statue he’s become, but we go about it very differently. I questioned things they took as a given, and a whole new world opened up to me.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of You Never Forget Your First.

What was your research process like? 
Why are people sleeping on Founders Online, an open access site through the Library of Congress?! I had the absolute best time reading 18th-century letters on there—so much so that I found myself messing around after work hours, too. I highly recommend using random search words like “slut.” You’ll get Jefferson lecturing his daughter, and Washington’s old house manager writing to say that his slut died in the straw, which editors took to demonstrate Martha’s love of dogs.

Your research reveals Martha Washington to have been a reluctant public figure. Were she and George a good match for the life he chose?
They were both homebodies, but when they were in public roles, Washington got to have a lot more freedom and fun with it. But I do think they were a good match. He got the rich widow he needed to make it big, and she got the hunky, same-age husband she hadn’t had the first time around. They worked hard to make each other happy. That meant she had to spend a lot of time out of Virginia, and he had to raise her ne’er-do-well son and grandson. 

“If anyone could have changed the fate of black people in America, it was George Washington.”

One of the most fascinating aspects of your book is your unflinching reporting on Washington as a slave owner. How much does his reliance on enslaved labor tarnish his legacy?
If anyone could have changed the fate of black people in America, it was George Washington. No other founder had the stature, the reputation, the popularity. He could have set a powerful example in Virginia, then the biggest state in the country, by emancipating his slaves, but he didn’t until he was near the end of his life. He knew the world was changing and that he would be judged. And let’s not forget, he passed the buck to Martha. Half of Mount Vernon’s enslaved population knew they would be free when she set them free or died, and it’s pretty clear her fear of being murdered or burned alive motivated her to sign their manumission papers. She didn’t do the same for those she enslaved outright. 

Did this project change your feelings about Washington?
When I came to this project, Washington was a portrait, a hero, a myth. He wasn’t necessarily a real person to me, but now he is, and people are complicated. There are things I like and admire about him, and there are things that absolutely repulse me.

I had no idea our first president faced so many illnesses! And they had such names: carbuncles and bloody flux and quinsy. How much of an impact did Washington’s health have on his politics?
He took far more risks with his health than he did his politics!

What are your favorite books about American presidents?
I love anything by Doris Kearns Goodwin, whom I’ve had the great fortune to work with. I was so scared to show her the manuscript, and her blurb means the world to me. Also, Annette Gordon-Reeds’ work on Jefferson is incredible.

Your book Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis is being developed into a movie. How involved are you in that process, and what’s it like?
I went to Memphis with Jennifer Kent, the director and screenwriter, and walked and talked Alice Mitchell and Freda Ward for days. Since then, I’ve read drafts of the screenplay and given some feedback, but for the most part, I trust Jen! She’s managed to stay true to our girls and the spirit of the book but is also making something that’s also totally her own.

What do you think our Founding Fathers would think of the current state of American politics?
I can only speak for Washington. He would be enraged by the level of foreign influence Trump entertains and horrified at how Republicans continue to support him in order to stay in power.

You can invite any three presidents to a dinner party. Who would you choose?
Washington, of course, although he would probably be too distracted by technology and a woman wearing pants to focus. Still, I’m interested in experiencing his charisma, because that’s the hardest thing to get from descriptions. For that reason, let’s throw John F. Kennedy into the mix, too. And I’d love to talk to FDR! But honestly, with that crowd, I doubt I’d get a word in!

Author photo © Sophia Rosokoff.

Although it’s as well researched as any of the myriad George Washington biographies out there, Alexis Coe’s You Never Forget Your First approaches its legendary subject with a healthy dose of irreverence. We asked the historian a few questions about what it was like to…

NonfictionHistoryEuropean History

Erik Larson

Interview by Christy Lynch

In his new book, The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson tackles one of the most heralded figures in modern Western history: Winston Churchill.

The subjects you’ve tackled over the course of your career are quite broad and varied. Is there any common thread that unites your interests?
There’s no particular common thread, other than story. I’m always looking for compelling historical events that can be rendered in narrative form, with a beginning, middle and end, so that readers can get caught up in the action and live through it as if they didn’t know the ending. So that’s first. But a corollary motive is to answer the question: What was it like to have lived through that event? Then it becomes a matter of finding the right real-life characters whose experience provides the richest insight.

What compelled you to zoom in and write about this particular slice—just his first year as prime minister—of Churchill’s life and the lives of his family?
What drove me was an interest not so much in exploring that first year but rather in learning how Churchill and his family and inner circle actually went about surviving Germany’s aerial campaign against Britain. I mean, how really do you cope with eight months of near-nightly bombings—essentially a succession of 9/11s? It just happened that the Luftwaffe’s campaign coincided, rather neatly, with that first year. In fact, the year ended with an intense raid that occurred one year to the day after Churchill took office.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of The Splendid and the Vile.

You’ve described this book as a kind of “Downton on Downing,” because of the way the book chronicles not just Churchill but other people in his life during this period. What were some of the challenges of researching these other figures?
It’s always relatively easy to research so-called “Great Man History,” because leaders like Churchill leave rich archives of documents and vast amounts of scholarship. But often the histories written about them give short shrift to the people who were crucial in helping them get through the day and to the fact that, even in the midst of great events, our heroes still had to deal with such quotidian matters as paying bills and resolving domestic dramas. It’s these little corners of history that most appeal to me, and that can be the most difficult to unearth. But the reward is great, because as I’ve found time and time again, when you open a new window on a subject, you invariably find material that other scholars, looking for other things, are likely to have overlooked.

With so much having been recorded about Churchill already, did you uncover anything in your research that surprised you about the man?
I was surprised and delighted at every turn, actually—especially by the man’s sense of humor and his ability, even in the midst of the most awful events imaginable, to step up and just have fun—whether doing bayonet drills in the great hall of his country home or singing along to “Run Rabbit Run,” one of his favorite songs. Of course, his idea of fun also happened to include watching air raids from the nearest rooftop.

Why are we so interested in Churchill? What makes so many writers want to write about him, and so many readers want to read about him?
Maybe because there’s a heroic clarity to the man that seems so absent in the leaders we have today. Also, there’s always that underlying mystery: How did he do it? That’s what most intrigued me. My goal was to capture a richer, deeper sense of the man and his day-to-day experience and of those who helped him endure—because believe me, he did not do it alone. He relied heavily on family and his closest advisers for wisdom, comfort and simple distraction.

Your footnotes contain fascinating stories and insights that weren’t included in the main text. Would you share your favorite?
I do love salting the notes with little stories. That’s my reward for those stalwart souls who, like me, enjoy a good footnote. I’m a bit hesitant to give these stories away, but I suppose my favorite is the one in which Churchill’s long-suffering bodyguard, Inspector Thompson, describes the uniquely withering quality of Clementine Churchill’s glare whenever she became annoyed with him—which, apparently, was quite often.

“Even in the midst of great events, our heroes still had to deal with such quotidian matters as paying bills and resolving domestic dramas. It’s these little corners of history that most appeal to me . . .”

This book, like your others, is both methodically researched and engagingly narrative. Do you frontload your writing process with research, or do research and writing happen simultaneously?
My ideal is to finish all my research before I begin writing. This never happens. Invariably I get to a point where I feel that I’ve just got to start writing, whether the research is done or not. The story starts begging to come out, scratching at the door. So I’ll start writing those passages for which the underlying source material is most complete. I should point out, however, that the research never does end. I keep reading and tweaking until the final page-proofs are finished and the book is ready to be printed. And then I hope to God that I got everything right—which is why, for this book, I asked three top Churchill experts to read the final manuscript and hired a professional fact-checker to give it a line-by-line, quote-by-quote examination.

What’s the significance of the title, The Splendid and the Vile?
It derives from an observation made by one of Churchill’s private secretaries, John Colville, a central character in the book. In his diary he describes a particularly dramatic night raid, which he watched through a bedroom window. He was struck by the contrast between the beauty of the interplay of searchlights, guns and fire, and the awful reality it represented.

Are there any contemporary figures who embody Churchill’s leadership style—particularly, as you put it, “his knack for making people feel loftier, stronger, and, above all, more courageous”?
At the moment, no. Sadly, quite the opposite.

Do you have a favorite Churchill portrayal in film or TV?
No. Frankly, I think they mostly miss the mark, invariably leaning toward caricature. I must note that during the three or four years I worked on this book, I avoided watching any film or television portrayals of Churchill, so as not to distort my own emerging sense of the man. One of my favorite moments in my book is one windy night in the garden at 10 Downing Street, when Churchill, on the verge of a devastating decision, desperately needed the comfort and advice of a close friend, and. . . . Oops, too bad. I see we’ve run out of time.

 

Author photo © Nina Subin

In his new book, The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson tackles one of the most heralded figures in modern Western history: Winston Churchill.

The subjects you’ve tackled over the course of your career are quite broad and varied. Is there…

Bess Kalb

Bess Kalb's heartfelt, hilarious memoir pays tribute to her beloved—and opinionated—grandma.
AudioWomen's HistoryBiographyArts & Culture

Saskia Maarleveld

Interview by Cat, Deputy Editor

After more than 300 recorded audiobooks, acclaimed narrator and voice-over actor Saskia Maarleveld knows that every audiobook requires something special. But what’s the difference between narrating a historical book versus a biography of a beloved icon? Comparing two of Maarleveld’s performances, The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History and Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge, offers a look into an audio narrator’s preparation, devotion and ability to roll with the punches.

Here she discusses a day behind the audiobook curtain, what it’s like to deliver Carrie Fisher’s jokes and why narrating nonfiction is so much harder than fiction.

Tell me a bit about transforming books into audiobooks. How do you prepare, and what do you enjoy about the preparation? From one project to the next, how much do you change your approach to each audiobook?
Once I have a script, I will first and foremost read it through. That’s the most important prep you can do: knowing the book, its characters and flow. Depending on the genre, there will then be a certain amount of research to do. Looking up correct pronunciations is one of the most important. I also like to know about the author and more about the subject matter, especially if it is a genre like historical fiction or nonfiction. I tend to not “overprep” a book, as for me the most fun part is having the story feel fresh in the booth. You want to know it but not have belabored it such that the words and characters don’t feel alive. Being open to what might come out in the booth is part of the fun!

What’s a day in the studio like for you?
I live in New York City and am lucky to be surrounded by the best audiobook studios and producers, so I go into a bunch of different studios to record. I always have an engineer and sometimes a director. A usual day for us is 10 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. We take bathroom and water breaks when we need them and have a lunch hour, but otherwise I’m in the booth recording the entire time! I like these longer days, as you can really get on a roll with whatever you are working on, recording usually about three finished hours or more in a session. Surprisingly, it’s usually my brain that starts to fray at the end of the day before my voice!

“It puts a lot of pressure on the narrator when you are trying to portray an icon like Carrie Fisher—you need to get it right!”

I’d love to discuss two audiobooks you recently narrated: Carrie Fisher and The Queens of Animation. What was most important to you as a narrator as you approached each audiobook? Did one pose more challenges than the other?
Both of these were nonfiction, which was a thrill as I mainly record fiction. Being nonfiction, it was important to me that I respect the stories of these people, doing thorough research before getting in the booth. For Carrie Fisher, I watched a ton of interviews with her to get a feel for her voice, personality and sense of humor. I watched a lot of clips from Disney movies to revisit the scenes I was describing in The Queens of Animation. This prep helps the words not fall flat when they are being read; there is life and movement behind what I am describing to the listener. This comes through most when I have a clear picture on my head.

Carrie FisherIt was a special treat to hear your ability to deliver Carrie Fisher’s jokes. What is it like to tap into an icon like Carrie Fisher? How is it different from tapping into a fictional character?
I loved having the opportunity to learn more about Carrie Fisher, a person I knew from on screen but now had to embody in a much more personal way. Having read the book ahead of time obviously gave me so much of what I needed, but also the interviews and clips I watched helped me with delivering the Carrie lines in ways that embodied her. It puts a lot of pressure on the narrator when you are trying to portray an icon like Carrie Fisher—you need to get it right! Whereas with fictional characters, you have much more room for interpretation and imagination.

The Queens of AnimationWith The Queens of Animation, our audio columnist especially loved the way you draw readers in, “like [you’re] confiding a dark secret.” Is this something you set out to do intentionally for this book?
Nonfiction can feel a little impersonal if the narrator just reads the words on the page and remains removed from them. It’s hard because you aren’t narrating as a character, so the more you can make the listener feel like you are talking directly to them, telling them the story, the more personal it becomes. I’m glad that came across in this project!

Does your work impact how you read?
I have always loved reading, so unfortunately these days it is very rare that I have the time to read for pleasure as I am always reading for work! And when I do occasionally have the time, it takes time to turn off the narrator side of my brain thinking, How do I pronounce that word? How does this character avoids sound? I should highlight this! I thought when I stopped working to have my daughter, I would have time to get back into reading for pleasure again, but with a newborn, reading is a whole new challenge!

What do audiobooks offer that a book can’t? And considering how much audiobooks are booming, why do you think we’re being drawn to this medium more and more?
Time is precious, and these days so many of us are constantly multitasking. Sitting down with a book is a luxury, something you have to focus on not only with your mind but also your body. Being able to listen to an audiobook while driving, ironing, cooking, etc., is such a gift, as we don’t have to stop the busy work our bodies are doing while escaping into the world of a story.

What do you believe are your greatest strengths as a reader of books? What is the most rewarding or coolest thing you get to bring to this experience through your reading?
I was trained as an actor, so my skill at creating characters is something I take pride in, and I also specialize in accent and dialect work. Also, as mentioned in an earlier question, I aim to connect the listener to the story in a very personal way. I want them to feel I am speaking directly to them, drawing them into whatever world we are sharing. If I achieve this, I think my job is done!

What’s one thing people might not expect about your role as narrator?
I work on many projects that I get really attached to, and it is surprisingly hard to read that last word and know my time with this tale has ended. It is a very intimate experience to share a story and embody characters, so after hours and days of disappearing into a book, leaving it behind can be very sad!

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read about Saskia Maarleveld’s narration of Carrie Fisher and The Queens of Animation.

After more than 300 recorded audiobooks, acclaimed narrator and voice-over actor Saskia Maarleveld knows that every audiobook requires something special in its reading. Here she discusses a day behind the audiobook curtain, what it’s like to deliver Carrie Fisher’s jokes and why narrating nonfiction is so much harder than fiction.

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