Directing audiobooks for the past ten years has been an immense joy and honor for me. I’ve utilized my skills, craft, talents, imagination and expertise in collaboration with dynamic actors, insightful authors, attentive engineers, precise editors and sharp producers to helm projects resulting in artful audio literature, high quality media, entertaining audio drama and culturally relevant content.
INterviews
“How Does a Graphic Novel Become an Audiobook?” PUBLISHERS’ WEEKLY
Publishers’ Weekly writer, Jay Gabler discusses the dynamic audiobook adaptation of Darrin Bells’ graphic novel, The Talk, with audiobook director, Simone Barros and sound designer, Nick Long. “You’re creating a composition, and that composition blooms into visuals in the mind of your listener,” said Simone Barros, director of The Talk audiobook. “But you’re also really moving them through time, the way music moves through time, the way cinema moves through time.”
“Undercover: How audiobooks bring a story to life,” NPR
Greta Johnsen, host of the Nerdette WBEZ Chicago radio show and podcast, chats with Simone Barros, and acclaimed actors, Robin Miles and Kevin R. Free, audiobook producer, Sarah Jaffe and the hilariously insightful author, Maeve Higgins about the process of recording audiobooks, from the written word to the spoken word.
“I Probably Modeled Him on Something I’d Heard on The Wire,” SLATE MAGAZINE
Slate writer, Laura Miller, interviews Simone Barros, alongside revered actors January LaVoy, Edoardo Ballerini and Kevin R. Free about the changing landscape of audiobooks from a history of audio blackface despite the talent and skill of BIPOC actors to its current efforts shifting the authoritative ear to diverse and well-crafted performers.
Audiobooks
I invite you to enjoy this small selection of the more than 500 award winning titles that I’ve directed.
Click the book cover to read a review or listen to a sample of the audiobook.
Since 2016, I’ve directed over 500 titles for Penguin Random House Audio, Macmillan Audio and Podium including the following:
Cool Machine, by Colson Whitehead, read by Dion Graham, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2026
Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They’re Too Much, read by author Cynthia Erivo, 2025
Lady or the Tiger, by Heather M. Herrman, read by Sophie Amoss, APA Audie Award Finalist, 2025
Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative, read by author Keke Palmer, 2024
There’s Always This Year, read by author Hanif Abdurraqib, APA Audie Award Winner 2025, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2024
Slouching Toward Bethlehem, by Joan Didion, read by Maya Hawke AudioFile Earphones Award, 2024
Children of Anguish and Anarchy: Legacy of Orisha Book 3, by Tomi Adeyemi, read by Cynthia Ervio, 2024
Twelve Dinging Doorbells, by Tameka Fryer Brown, read by January LaVoy, APA Audie Award Finalist, 2024
One Way Back, read by author Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, 2024
Remember Us, read by author Jacqueline Woodson, AudioFile Best Audiobook of 2023, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2023
Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead, read by Dion Graham, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2023
Out There Screaming, edited by Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams, read by Jordan Peele, Myron Willis, JD Jackson, Adenrele Ojo, Angel Pean, Shayna Small, Dion Graham, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Robin Miles, André Santana, Keylor Leigh, Prentice Onayemi, Dominic Hoffman and more, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2023
Doppelgänger: A Trip to the Mirror World, read by author Naomi Klein, 2023
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, by Rebecca Hall and Tyler English-Beckwith read by DeWanda Wise, Chanté Adams, Jerrie Johnson, Bahni Turpin, and more, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2022, APA Audie Award Finalist, 2023
Build Your House Around My Body, by Violet Kupersmith, read by Quyen Ngo, 2021
1619 Project: A New Origin Story, edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The NY Times, read by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ibram X. Kendi, Jasmine Mans, Yusef Komunyakaa, Claudia Rankin, Camille T. Dungy and more, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2021, APA Audie Award Finalist, 2023
Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead, read by Dion Graham, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2021
Invisible Child, by Andrea Elliot, read by Adenrele Ojo, 2021
Never: A Novel by Ken Follett, read by January LaVoy, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2021
Cry Back My Sea read author by Sarah Arvio, 2021
The Prophets, by Robert Jones Jr. read by Karen Chilton, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2021
Black Girl, Call Home read by author Jasmine Mans, 2021
Antkind, by Charlie Kaufman, read by Fred Berman, 2020
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi & Keisha N. Blain, read by Keith David, Phylicia Rashad, January LaVoy, Dion Graham, Shayna Small, Bill Quinn and more, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2020
Red at the Bone, by Jacqueline Woodson, read by Jacqueline Woodson, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Peter Francis James, Shayna Small, and Bahni Turpin, APA Audie Award Finalist, 2020
Dear Justyce by Nic Stone, read by Dion Graham, YALSA Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults, 2020
145th Street: Short Stories by Walter Dean Myers, read by Heather Alicia Simms, Bahni Turpin, Dominic Hoffman, Adenrele Ojo, Johnny Heller, Sullivan Jones, Almarie Guerra and Brandon Gill, YALSA Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults, 2019
A Time to Dance, by Padma Venkatraman reading by the author, YALSA Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults, 2019
My Sister (How One Siblings Transition Changed Us Both), by Selena Leyva and Marisol Leyva, 2020
Open City, anniversary edition read by author Teju Cole, 2020
How to Be an Antiracist, read by author Ibram X. Kendi, 2019
Taína by Ernesto Quiñonez, read by Daniel José Molina, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2019
Let’s Go Swimming on Doomsday, by Natalie C. Anderson, read by Kevin R. Free, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2019
Naamah, by Sarah Blake, read by Shayna Small, O, The Oprah Magazine Best Book of 2019
The Journey of Little Charlie, by Christopher Paul Curtis, read by Michael Crouch, Association for Library Services for Children Notable Children’s Recording, 2019
You Are Free, by Danzy Sansa, read by January LaVoy, Adenrele Ojo, Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2018
You Bring the Distant Near, by Mitali Perkins, read by Sneha Mathan, Shivali Bhammer, Priya Ayyar, N’Jameh Camara, Zehra Jane Naqvi, APA Audie Award Finalist, 2018
My Sister the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite, read by Adepero Oduye, 2018
Immigrant Montana, read by author Amitava Kuma, 2018
Quicksand, by Malin Persson Giolito, read by Saakia Maarleveld, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2017
Dear Martin, by Nic Stone, read by Dion Graham, AudioFile Earphones Award, 2017, YALSA Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults, 2019
We Should All Be Feminists, read by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2017
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Book 3, by Rick Riordan, read by Michael Crouch, AudioFile Best Audiobooks of the Year, 2017
Big Cats: Stories by Holiday Reinhorn, read by Lili Taylor, Rainn Wilson, Alia Shawkat, Virginia Madsen, Justine Bateman, Garret Dillahunt, Amy Brenneman, Jenna Fischer, Helen Hunt, Patricia Arquette, Peter Krause, Oscar Nunez, Adam Mondschein, Macleod Andrews, Kirby Heyborne, and Adenrele Ojo, 2016
