Xe Sands: Audiobook Narrator
Xe Sands: Audiobook Narrator
Xe Sands is an Audie, Voice Arts and Earphones Award-winning narrator known for her authentic and compelling delivery of over 375 audiobooks and audio series, specializing in first person, literary and epistolary fiction, memoirs, speculative fiction, and captivating performance of romance. She has been recognized for her work by Salon, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, AudioFile Magazine, Locus Magazine and Audible Editors for titles such as The Murmur of Bees, Euphoria, The Wife, Now That You Mention It, Magic for Liars, Blood Water Paint, and Bookburners.
How did you prepare to narrate “Always the Last to Know”?
I actually don’t have a specific prep method for projects, though often, an aspect of a book will resonate with me in a particular way - sometimes positively, sometimes painfully - acting in a way as its own odd sort of preparation. My dad passed suddenly some years back...and I remember vividly the terror of the phone call, the surreal nature of hearing over the phone that something impossible has happened to the person who sees you as no one else ever will. So when it came time to narrate the early chapters for “Sadie” in Always the Last to Know as she first hears of her father’s stroke, there was that resonance...and it was there again all the times Sadie is recalling the love and warmth and special relationship she had with her father that she fears she will never get back. That was both hard and a gift, and I’m so grateful to have been able to revisit my time with my Dad through Sadie and hers.
Other books narrated by Xe:
So hard to choose! Ok let’s see...here are three that I think will appeal to those who love Kristan Higgins’ storytelling and themes (in addition to the other booksof hers that I’ve been fortunate to narrate of course!):
Vineyards of Champagne, by Juliet Blackwell (click here to read my book review of Vineyards of Champagne.)
The Flight Girls, by Noelle Salazar
The Chicken Sisters, by KJ Dell’Antonio
Other work by Xe:
I do have a particular love of ruins, the beauty of decay, and the tales they tell. Much of my instagram is trying to visually capture the feel of those unknown stories.
I also love poetry. Poems are stories that give emotion a shape...hmmm...maybe that’s why I read them the way I do.
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost
https://soundcloud.com/xe_sands/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening-by-robert-frost-read-by-xe-sands
God’s Secretary, Overworked, by Paige Lewis (from her collection Space Struck)
https://soundcloud.com/xe_sands/gods-secretary-overworked-from-spacestruck-by-paige-lewis
Learn more about Xe here:
Website: www.xesands.com
Facebook: @xesandsnarration
Twitter: @xesands
Instagram: @xesands