Welcome to the first #AudioElevatorSeries where we go behind the mic with our favorite narrators, storytellers, and audiobooks. Exceptional Narrators. Standout Audiobooks. Elevator Talk.
We are honored to have joining us today, a personal and fan favorite, award-winning narrator, Gail Shalan (and so much more) to kick off this new series!
~Voice Artist
~Actor
~Puppeteer
~ Two-Time 2024 Audie Award Winner
~ 2023 Audiofile Magazine’s Best of The Year for Full Cast
~ IPPY Gold Medalist
~ Four-Time Audiofile Earphones Award Winner
~ Featured in The New York Times, Vulture Magazine, Library Journal, Booklist, School Library Journal, and Audiofile Magazine
About Gail Shalan
Gail Shalan (she/her) is a NYC-based storyteller on screen, stage, behind the mic, and with puppets.
A 2024 two-time Audie Award winner ( Best Young Adult and Best Middle Grade), as well as a multiple Earphones Award winner, praised by The New York Times, Library Journal, Vulture Magazine, Booklist, and Audiofile Magazine, she’s narrated over 200 titles.
Gail has performed on stage at The Bristol Old Vic, Cherry Lane Theatre, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and other various theater spaces across the US and UK. Her work as both an actor and a puppeteer was featured in the award-winning short film,Coyote Girl (BostonIFF Best Short). She is also a writer and the creator/producer of The Storylight Podcast and The Narrator Roundtable.
Known for her dexterity with character and dialects, her tangibly emotional reads, and her deep respect for the text, Gail is passionate about stories that center generational healing and mental health, that navigate the sticky spaces between childhood and adulthood, and that dive into the questions of what dwells within us and what dwells between us. She strives to create a space in all her work for curiosity and wonder.
For more, follow her on socials @grshalan and check out www.gailshalan.com
Praise for Gail Shalan
“Shalan’s compelling pacing works well with the dance of emotions and nuances she provides for the characters and storylines… Shalan’s intense portrayal of the regret, fear, and frustration felt by Kelly and Orchid is remarkable.”
— AUDIOFILE MAGAZINE EARPHONES AWARD WINNER The Shutouts by Gabrielle Korn
“Narrated with contagious enjoyment… lit up with irresistible humor…Shalan’s interpretation does justice to the masterful deception of the high adventures of the pret-a-porter revolt.”
—BOOKLIST REVIEW Empresses of Seventh Avenue by Nancy MacDonell
“Narrator Gail Shalan adds her amazingly authentic vocal talents to realize the sounds and voices of the characters… Her pacing and accents will keep the listener on the edge of their seat… A five-star experience!”
— BOOKLIST STARRED REVIEW Uprising by Jennifer A. Nielsen
“Gail Shalan’s expert narration vividly brings to life a group of affluent suburban couples… Shalan shines as she crafts authentic male and female characters, each with distinct, nuanced personality… Shalan’s impeccable timing heightens the escalating tension.”
— AUDIOFILE REVIEW With Regrets by Lee Kelly
“Shalan’s voice is full of feeling. Her deliberate intonation and quick pace create anticipation and a sense of adventure… Shalan becomes the various characters… alluring, horrific, and fun to listen to.”
— AUDIOFILE REVIEW The Witch’s Lens by Luanne G Smith
Exceptional Narrators.
Standout Audiobooks. Elevator Talk.
Behind the Mic & the Audiobook
INTRIGUING QUESTIONS. INQUIRING LISTENERS WANT TO KNOW.
Welcome to the first January 2025 #AudioElevatorSeries, a new series where we go behind the narrator (mic, storyteller, inside the booth) with our favorite narrators and audiobooks. A part of the #AuthorElevatorSeries and #LitLiftMiniAuthorChat collection.
We are honored and super excited to have a personal and fan favorite, award-winning narrator, Gail Shalan (and so much more), joining us today to kick off this new series!
Have you wondered what goes on behind the mic and the making of an audiobook? Gail is here to share her professional expertise and four January stand-out audiobooks with us. (These are top audiobooks of 2025, and the performances are captivating). Plus, a sneak peek at her upcoming projects.
Join us as Gail shares some fascinating behind-the-scenes exclusives from the audiobooks and up-close and personal fun moments inside the booth from this talented storyteller.
Welcome, Gail!
BEHIND THE🎙NARRATOR
Q. DID YOU KNOW: Name 3-5 things about YOU, listeners may
(or may not) know.
• I got my MFA in Bristol, England at the same drama school (The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School) as Sir Patrick Stewart, and my commencement speaker at my Undergrad graduation ceremony (Boston University) was the late great Leonard Nimoy — so I guess I’m in orbit with some kind of Next Generation awesomeness.
• I have ADHD and Anxiety and a super duper emotional support puppy named Edith. And yes, she was kind of named after Edith Piaf and sort of named after Edith Wharton.
• When I was ten, I went as William Shakespeare for Halloween and if people asked for a “trick” I performed a Shakespearean quote for them.
• If I had a superpower (and credit goes to my Mum for this one as it was her idea and I love it so much I have to steal it) it would be that whenever I opened a book, time froze, so I could read as much as I wanted.
Q. PUPPETEER: In addition to being an award-winning voice artist and actor you are a puppeteer and puppet-builder/designer. Fascinating! Do tell us—how puppets are an essential and powerful tool of storytelling magic.
To me, puppets have this incredible power to enable suspension of disbelief as a collective. They exist purely to engage us in an almost ritualistic experience of storytelling. When we are not imbuing life into them, they are simply a pile of wood, cloth, foam, wires, raw materials… but when we decide, together, to go with them on a storytelling adventure they are the literally embodiment of where the artist meets their audience— the purest moment to me in a piece of art’s existence is that space between the creator and the receiver . That’s where the magic lies. It’s a curious place, a liminal place, a place of wonder.
A similar thing happens with audiobooks, for sure— a disembodied voice, inviting you, the listener, the opportunity to go on a journey through the story if you can make that leap of faith into the world of imagination—- but there is something extra special to me about the puppet that physically exists outside the performer manipulating it, the audience gives it it’s own identity and life. And when it’s live in a theatre, even more magical, for it truly only comes to life for the duration of the play.
Q. ELEVATOR: If you were stuck in an elevator with a narrator, author, celebrity, or character—who would it be?
Tracee Ellis Ross. She is such a brilliant, bold, beautiful being and I could listen to her talk forever. But she also seems like the kind of person who you could spend all night gabbing with and laughing with, I imagine she’d make getting stuck in an elevator a fun and funny experience.
Q. NARRATION: Do you prefer narrating solo, fuo, or with a full cast?
Full cast is my favorite when my co-narrators are equally as enthusiastic about collaborating. One of the best things about audiobooks is that it’s a chance to elevate a brilliant piece of writing to more than the sum of its parts when collaborating with the author, producer, engineer, editor, director (if lucky), and often wonderful co-narrators and transform the story into something completely new. But it’s also fun to do all the voices and play all the parts in solo narrator :)
Q. SECRETS: Please share some Inside-the-booth or Behind-the-mic Secrets.
I like to stand in the booth! I find it gives me the most control over my instrument as well as focus and energy to get through long sessions. I also drink a ton of water and do a lot of silly vocal and physical warm ups and cool downs— I like to use the old auctioneer warm up “One hen, two ducks” to get my articulators and my brain up to speed.
Recently, I’ve started to bring an unlit scented candle or essential oils into my space that evoke the world of the book as well as pull a Tarot or Oracle card to inspire my creative entry point for each session.
Q. STORIES: What kind of stories are you hoping to perform in 2025?
More fascinating stories about women throughout history— both fiction and non-fiction! I loved how lit up I felt while learning about Alice Marble and telling her story.
And also, more speculative fiction that asks big “What if?” questions.
Q. FAVORITE AUDIOBOOK (s) you have narrated. Why?
Too hard to choose! I’m so lucky to narrate so many incredible authors’ work in a variety of genres but here are my current top 5:
ACE, MARVEL, SPY by Jenni L. Walsh— As you know, I simply can’t get over what an amazing life Alice Marble led and how little we hear about her. Jenni did an incredible job pulling together such a compelling and well-woven story in her novelization. And the relationship and banter between Eleanor “Teach” Tennant and Alice is to die for!
THE SHUTOUTS by Gabrielle Korn — I just think this book is a masterpiece. So well constructed and so courageously explorative of what may/will come and how we may get through it. Her characters are vivid, raw, and so compelling. Her world building is nuanced and exquisite. Her thesis is potent and prescient. It’s not to be missed.
MEDEA by Eilish Quin — I’m obsessed with Eilish’s brain! And heart and soul. They somehow managed to tilt the prism perfectly on this infamously iconic character so that we can’t help but empathize, understand, and even support her astounding choices. As a theatre kid, it was like some kind of dream come true to get to voice this novel. I will be going back to read this many times in my life, I know. It’s a genius piece of work.
I MADE IT OUT OF CLAY by Beth Kander — Speaking of being a theatre kid, to work on Beth Kander’s awesome debut was the biggest treat for me as an actor. Beth is an accomplished and phenomenal playwright and this heartfelt, humor-filled story about grief was like playing a 400-page, incredibly well-crafted monologue (with a few great scenes and a cast of *incredible* characters thrown in). I felt like I was giving a one-woman show. And I just love any author brave enough to defy genre by truthfully breaking our hearts and making us spit out our coffee from laughing within the same breath. And Beth writes that paradox of existence so perfectly.
ALONE by Megan E. Freeman — This one will stay with me forever. One of my first big publisher titles, ALONE is the story of a tween girl who gets accidentally abandoned during a mass evacuation and survives on her own for the next four years with only the neighbors’ dog as a companion… until she finds a library, namely the poems of Mary Oliver, and it saves her life. It’s a middle grade novel written in verse and it was released right as the world went into its second year of lock-down in 2021… its given a space for so many readers, young and old, to sit with the feelings that solitude and the scary changes happening in our world may bring up. It speaks to the inner child who fights to survive and to belong in all of us. The sequel, AWAY, is out this year. I can’t wait to read it.
Q. BOOTH: The must-have item (s) you bring into the recording booth?
Water, Dr. Stuart’s Throat Relief tea, chapstick, my in-ear headphones, a fidget toy, a spiky massage ball to roll my feet out on during my session or my back during a break.
Q. TRADING PLACES: If you could trade places with one of your audiobook characters for a day, or hang out with —which one would it be?
Well, since we’ve mentioned her already, I’d definitely want to hang out with “Teach” from ACE, MARVEL, SPY, even though she also intimidates the heck out of me. She has such an incredible zest for life, she’s witty, incredibly passionate, and although not particularly flexible in her beliefs, a deeply caring person. I think I’d learn a lot from her and have fun. Plus, we could talk about astrology all day, which I love!
Q. A FAVORITE (or EVIL) CHARACTER from one of your audiobooks.
Oh goodness yes, villains are the best part of any book to play and I’m lucky to have come across some great ones. I think my all time favorite has to be Rosa Vallo from THE WRITING RETREAT by Julia Bartz. I don’t want to give any spoilers beyond what I already have by telling you she’s the baddie, so I’ll just say she is an impeccably-crafted, larger-than-life super villain with a delicious accent and rhythm of speech and an incredibly twisted outlook on life. She’s totally unreliable and utterly unstoppable. She’s scary as heck and was so much fun to play.
BEHIND THE 🔉AUDIOBOOK (s)
JUST WRAPPED/FINISHED?
You Killed Me First by John Marrs, Brilliance Audio, Mar 4th
CURRENTLY RECORDING?
A Fable for The End of The World by Ava Reid, HarperCollins Audio, March 4th
UPCOMING?
Friends with Benefits by Marisa Kanter, Macmillan Audio, May 6th
JANUARY AUDIOBOOKS: Congrats! You have FOUR stand-out audiobooks just released in January. We would love to hear more from 'behind the mic'. Name 3-5 things about each.
1. Playing real people who actually lived but for whom there isn’t much video or audio created such a wonderful playground for me as an actor– I could base them deeply in a wealth of facts while still allowing my imagination to conjure up how they would sound. (There were, of course, the wonderful challenges of conjuring up my own versions of FDR, Marion Davies, George Bernard Shaw, and Carole Lombard).
2. I often use Pinterest to create inspo boards for the books I record. Here’s my board for this one, rich with great visuals: https://pin.it/4ZJ40sr9u
3. This was a story that made time pass faster than real life for me– I would be in the booth, unable to stop because I so desperately wanted to continue with her story, and my body would demand a break, and I’d realize hours had gone by! It was so much fun to perform. My favorite sequences are the action sequences (be it tennis or car chase) and the spats between Alice and “Teach”.
1. This is my second Megan Collins narration. I follow Megan on social media and when she announced she was writing her next book “about a woman who fervently believes she’s living a romcom—only to discover it’s actually a thriller” I remember laughing loudly to myself, then immediately thinking— well, if that isn’t *absolutely* genius and what I wouldn’t give to narrate it! I felt like the luckiest narrator in the world when the offer came through from Simon Audio!
2. Fun fact: Both myself and my co-narrator, Chris Ciulla, who plays the perfect Morgan Thorne, are from Massachusetts like our characters. He’s known as The Boston Voice Guy and has an awesome audio production company in Cambridge, MA called Leonardo Audio. And… several years ago, I bought Chris’ old recording booth when he got a custom booth built, so Rosie’s chapters were recorded in Chris’ old booth which I think would make Rosie very happy, ha!
3. I prepped this book in one sitting. It was so addictive, I couldn’t put it down!
1. This audiobook has an INCREDIBLE full cast. Every narrator in this cast is a force to be reckoned with! It was so cool to be a part of it. And the talented narrator who plays Anna, Kimberly M. Wetherell, also directed the audiobook!
2. I recorded my section of this book while house/dog-sitting for another narrator in Spain! The sweet pup, who sat outside the booth while I recorded, shares a name with my character in the book- Lucy!
3. For this book, several of us share a lot of characters, so Kimberly did an amazing job making sure that whomever recorded a character first or the majority of a character (or if the character was their main character) pulled a small sample for the rest of us to work off of in constructing our own versions in our chapters. This is a requisite practice for multi-cast recordings and is such an essential tool in creating consistency for the listeners.
1. This epic love story takes place in five different geographic locations, in three different countries, but most of it is told through emails back and forth between the two main characters. I think I was drawn to this story because I also fell deeply in love at a young age and travelled a lot— I could relate to that bittersweet, unique feeling of having your heart being pulled in two directions at once; growing up into your own person while trying to maintain a long-distance connection with someone you met in a different lifetime.
2. The real MVP on the team that created this audiobook is our editor, Greg Lecocq, who pieced together the nearly 400-piece puzzle of audio files to give you the finished audiobook. Benjamin and I record separately, so every email— even the ones that are a sentence long— came to Greg as separate files. He’s truly a wizard!
3. Fun fact: Although I’m not sure of Benjamin’s experience in the US, he’s a Brit playing an American, (who does a marvelous job with Rhys!) and I’m an American (who lived in the UK for a while) playing a Brit. I think we pull it off, but I hope you agree!
A SCENE OR CHARACTER YOU ENJOYED OR FOUND CHALLENGING?
I’ve talked so much about my love for Eleanor “Teach” Tennant in ACE, MARVEL, SPY, I particularly loved playing both the scene where Teach sneaks Alice out of rehab and the scene where they get into a heartbreaking fight at the hotel, and I could go on some more, their relationship has so much depth– but I want to say that I found Blair to be both the most challenging and fun character to play in CROSS MY HEART and I can’t tell you why because it would be a major spoiler. Go read the book!
THANK YOU, Gail, for spending time with us today! This has been fascinating, super fun, and intriguing. We cannot wait to listen to all these spectacular titles.
LISTEN TO A CLIP FROM ACE, MARVEL, SPY WITH GAIL!
LISTEN TO A CLIP FROM ONLY AFTER WE MET WITH GAIL!
From Judy...Reviews
Four of my favorite January Audiobooks, all narrated by Gail. Click on links below for my reviews and more about each book. Alice and Teach (Ace, Marvel, Spy) are dynamite! A must-read/listen, my Top Audiobook of 2025, thus far. NEWSLETTER
Author: Jenni L. Walsh
Narrator: Gail Shalan
Duration: 9 Hrs, 24 Min, 55 Sec
Publisher: HarperCollins Focus | Harper Muse
Pub Date: Jan 14, 2025
Top Audiobook of 2025!
Author: Megan Collins
Narrators: Gail Shalan and Chris Andrew Ciulla
Publisher: Atria Books | Simon & Schuster Audio
Duration: 10 hours and 5 minutes
Author: Jessie Garcia
Narrators: Andrew Eiden, Dylan Fitzpatrick, Fred Berman, Gail Shalan, Hillary Huber, Jennifer Pickens, John Pirhalla, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Kirby Heyborne, Tim Campbell
Publisher: Macmillan Audio | St. Martin's Press
Druation: 9 Hrs, 7 Min
Pub Date: Jan 14, 2025
Author: Alice Kellen
Narrators: Gail Shalan, Benjamin Crow
Duration: 13 Hrs. 27 Min.
Publisher: Dreamscape Media | Sourcebooks Casablanca
Pub Date: Jan 21, 2025
NOTE: Perfect for Valentine's
In addition,
check out my
narrated by Gail.
Click on title for
review and more
about each one below.
Also check out my Top 2024 Audiobooks narrated by Gail.
Click on title for review and more about each one.
Author: Hank Phillippi Ryan
Narrator: Gail Shalan
Macmillan Audio
12 hrs. 28 min.
Feb 06, 2024
Author: Mina Hardy
Narrator: Gail Shalan
Dreamscape Media
8 Hrs. 28 Min.
Feb 06, 2024
Author: Liz Alterman
Narrators: Emily Ellet, Gail Shalan
Dreamscape Media
10 hrs. 30 min.
Aug 06, 2024
