Narrator Spotlight: Audiobooks by Robin Miles 

Cicely Tyson describes her amazing life with emotion and transparency not often found in celebrity memoirs, and Robin Miles brings those emotions to life. Miles conveys Tyson’s incredible life with the poise and nuance as if she herself was the accomplished actress looking back on her life with the grace we should all afford our younger selves. There’s good reason for this powerhouse of a story to have garnered Miles AudioFile’s Best Audiobook Award and an Earphones Award in 2021.

Caste is an incisive, instructive, and introspective nonfiction award winner that addresses issues of race and persistent prejudice head-on but also posits ways to alter the trajectory of this painful national story for the future. Don’t be dissuaded by the seriousness of these subjects because Miles makes these complex issues accessible with her straightforward, yet engaging, narration. Not only is this another Miles Earphones Award Winner and AudioFile Best Audiobook Winner (2020), but she also lent her talents to the 2022 Young Adult adaptation.

Based on thirty-one personal interviews and over one-hundred books and articles, Hidden Figures renders a rich and complex portrait of its protagonists’ lives and the society in which they lived. Shetterly’s writing flows from the micro to the macro effortlessly infusing each woman’s narrative with national and global context, while Miles brings each personal story — the successes and frustrations — to life with her signature pairing of enthusiasm and humility.

Miles embodies Zora Neale Hurston, one of the pre-eminent writers of twentieth-century African-American literature, as she eloquently muses over the stereotypes African Americans have lived in both literature and their real lives in this collection of essays spanning more than 30 years of her work. Included is Hurston’s journalistic approach to the 1952 Ruby McCollum murder trail. Helpful to listeners is a supplemental PDF with the list of essays in chronological order by year and the bibliography associated with each essay. This deservedly won Miles an AudioFile Earphones Award and was listed as one of AudioFile’s Best Audiobooks in 2022.

A story of personal and generational grief, family relationships and resilience, all in the name of meaningful human connection. Narrator Shayna Small takes the lead in Swift River, but Miles takes on the character of Aunt Clara with such warmth, it feels palpable.

The Golden Age of Hollywood had more than its share of scandalous secrets, and an iconic 1950s starlet, Evelyn Hugo, is about to reveal them all — or at least seven of them, corresponding to her infamous seven husbands. Within its tabloid-yummy trappings narrated by Julia Whelan, Alma Cuervo handles the story as told by Evelyn herself, and Miles takes on the part of Monique Grant, the seeming nobody plucked by Evelyn to serve as her biographer. Miles takes us on the roller coaster of emotion that Monique goes on throughout the unfolding of Evelyn’s star-studded life, which unexpectedly touches her own life in dramatic fashion.

It’s heart-wrenching, it’s frustrating, it’s inspiring — all while staying highly engaging. Miles brings these fully-developed characters to life as they work to build up and keep their community safe in the face of adversity. Don’t let the 1968 timestamp fool you, this story is just as important for the present day.

William Faulkner is seeing new life with this recent audiobook edition of this American classic. It is read by a stunning full cast of narrators, including Robin Miles, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Bronson Pinchot, and Edoardo Ballerini. Miles narrates the arguably strongest character in the story, Dilsey, with the no-nonsense presence Dilsey herself expresses.

Miles flexes her narration muscles with this immersive story of revolution, family, and betrayal. This is the kind of fantasy that edges right up to science fiction, and right down in the grit of the natural world. While there are magical stone creatures and superhumans with functionally magical abilities, Miles expertly keeps us on track with intonations and accents appropriately divvied out amongst the cast.

Author Nnedi Okorafor won two science fiction awards for this fast-paced novella. Binti is from a marginalized human tribe and is the first of her people to be offered a chance to study at the galaxy’s most elite university, but doing so will require her to give up her identity. Miles expertly controls the range of emotions our protagonist goes through in this ultimate coming-of-age story centered on self- and cultural preservation.

Wild Seed, the first book of the Patternist series, sketches out an alternate history stretching back to ancient Egypt, exploring efforts by an immortal alien being to create a new race of humanity through selective breeding. Miles is lovely, as always, as she introduces us to the powerful beings Anyanwu and DDoro, as their relationship changes the course of this universe forever.

In this ultimate story of family and sisterhood, Abby and Makeda are far from ordinary women. Miles magically dances between the frustration the sisters feel towards one another and, at the same time, the need they have to lean on each other for emotional support while caring for an ailing parent and dealing with their other-worldly extended family.

Miles is joined by Bahni Turpin in this explosive YA contemporary fantasy about two Brooklyn teenagers by award-winning author Ibi Zoboi. This is a novel in verse based on Caribbean folklore that follows Marisol and Genevieve as they deal with very real-life issues, as well as the magical abilities that are setting them aflame.

The Kingdom of Souls series is as powerful as the cover art suggests. With a village’s worth of characters to contend with, Miles deftly expresses the nuances of all of them, as our young protagonist deals with magic, violence, betrayal, and of course, love.

Miles leans into the melodious accents of this Nigerian folklore-inspired fantasy to give us a fully realized cast of characters. Miles blends the youth and mischief of young Naborhi with her fierce will, as she’s set onto a dangerous path by a magical fox.