The HEAR Now Festival—the audio equivalent of a film festival—returns to Kansas City to celebrate storytelling in all its forms: live and scripted solo performances, multi-voiced performance, classic radio drama, experimental narrative, and more.
In this Saturday afternoon session, award-winning audiobook narrators including Barbara Rosenblat and Dion Graham discuss the appeal of audiobooks and how to become a narrator and they read from some of their favorite works. Rosenblatt also is known for her on-screen role as Miss Rosa on Netflix’ Orange is the New Black. Graham has played state’s attorney Rupert Bond on HBO’s The Wire, among other TV characters.
Presented by the National Audio Theatre Festivals, the four-day HEAR Now gathering runs through Sunday, June 14.
(Kansas City, Missouri) - Barbara Rosenblat and Dion Graham are two of the biggest names and voices in the audiobook world, narrating hundreds of titles between them and combining to win a dozen coveted Audie Awards - the industry's equivalent of the Oscars.
But their stardom doesn't stop there. Rosenblat performs on both stage and television, appearing on Law and Order SVU and the long-running soap opera Guiding Light and playing a recurring role as Miss Rosa on Netflix' Orange is the New Black. Graham has portrayed state's attorney Rupert Bond on HBO's The Wire, among other TV and film characters.
They join three other award-winning narrators on Saturday, June 13, 2015, at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St., as part of the HEAR Now Festival, a four-day event making its annual return to Kansas City. The panelists discuss the appeal of audiobooks and how to become a narrator and read from some of their favorite books.
The presentation, Reading with Your Ears: The Art of Narration, begins at 1 p.m.
The HEAR Now Festival—the audio equivalent of a film festival—celebrates storytelling in all its forms: live and scripted solo performances, multi-voiced performance, classic radio drama, experimental narrative, and more. It runs through Sunday, June 14.
Rosenblat is one of the most beloved and sought-after audiobook narrators in the country. A New York resident who was born in London to survivors of the Holocaust, she was named by AudioFile magazine as one of the industry's Golden Voices of the Twentieth Century. Her book performances range from Terms of Endearment and Bridget Jones's Diary to Miep Gies' Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family.
Also among her non-audiobook credits: voicing a transsexual dope fiend in the classic video game Grand Theft Auto.
Graham , a native of Cincinnati, has been named a Golden Voice by AudioFile and a Voice of Choice by Booklist. His narrations run from memoirs by jazz great Miles Davis and basketball star Shaquille O'Neal to David Mendell's 2007 biography of the U.S. president-to-be, Obama: From Promise to Power.
In addition to The Wire, he has appeared in guest roles on television's Madam Secretary, Law and Order, Homicide, and NYPD Blue and narrates the A&E documentary series The First 48. Graham also has had supporting film roles in Malcolm X, Asbury Park, and Thirteen Conversations About One Thing.
Audiobook narrators participating with them in Reading with Your Ears are Richard Farrone, Robert Fass, and another AudioFile Golden Voice, Robin Miles.
Admission to the event is free. RSVP at kclibrary.org or call 816.701.3407.