In this episode of Audicted, journey into the studio with narrators Julia Whelan and Vikas Adam. In conversation with our Audicted cohosts, Julia and Vikas share their origin stories, what they bring into the booth with them, dream roles, iconic performances, and more. Download or stream the full episode here.
Julia and Vikas on recent hidden gems that they’ve performed
Kat Johnson: As editors, we're always looking for wonderful hidden gems. Is there something that you have narrated that you wish more people had discovered that's maybe an unsung gem, or under-sung?
Julia Whelan: So this answer has changed, because my answer to that question a few years ago now seems ridiculous, which is I would have directed people to Emily Henry's YA novels, and I would have directed people to Taylor Jenkins Reid's earlier work.
KO: You could be starting quite a trend here with your answer, then!
JW: The one I think most recently that I wish more people had found was a book called Cloudmaker by Malcolm Brooks, and he wrote Painted Horses, which I had done [and loved], but Cloudmaker went to a next level for his writing for me. He writes historical Mountain West fiction, and he's an incredible stylist. His style is beautiful, but he also has incredible characters, and his historical eye is unassailable. I love that book so much. And then I would also say another book that I felt should have gotten way more attention was Bluff by Michael Kardos.
Vikas Adam: Off the top of my head, Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel. That just came out in December, and that book, it rung me in so many ways. I especially loved it because it's dual perspective—first person from both perspectives—and I got to do both. It's mom and son, so I got to do mom's voice for half the book. And that forced me to [figure out], how do I find her authentic voice without making a caricature or anything like that, how to dig into that? That really felt like acting to me, you know? That's why I'm on the bandwagon of “narrated by” or “performed by” versus “read by.”
Also in this episode: Save these listens to your Library.
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