Interview with an audiobook narrator
This National Year of Reading, there are so many ways to fall back in love with reading. Audiobooks are a brilliant way to enjoy with books in a fresh way and incorporate reading into different areas of our lives. We chatted to actor and audiobook narrator Charlotte Ryder about why she loves audiobooks, how they helped her learn to read as a child, and her role as a narrator in the Sounds Good Audiobook Studio.
As an actor, a big part of Charlotte’s job is bringing characters on the page to life. She told us about her process, describing how she will read a book twice before coming to record, giving her a chance to understand the themes and characters more deeply, and making notes the way an actor might normally mark up a script.
‘I highlight all of the different characters’ voices, and I compile them in a little list so when I’m working, I can keep track during the record of who sounds like what if people are from different geographical places. It also means that I’ve got a list of accents that I need to rehearse or practise before we come to the record.’
In fact, the creative input of performers is one of the things Charlotte values most about listening to audiobooks in her own free time.
‘I just love seeing and hearing how someone might interpret a book, so I often get a bit nerdy and if I really love a book, I will buy a physical hard copy and the audio version, and I can listen to both and enjoy them on the move or in print.
With it being the National Year of Reading this year, my main tip for getting back into reading, if it’s something that you’ve put on the back burner, or you’ve not really got a passion for it already, would be finding an actor that you really enjoy and listening to their audiobook.’
Charlotte’s love of audiobooks started early, she recalls listening to Miranda Richardson narrating the Horrid Henry books by Francesca Simon when she was ‘teeny tiny’!
‘I loved all the voices and characters she [Richardson] would do. Then I’d like to sit and read the book, and I’d sort of teach myself how to read and work out grammar. Doing that as a dyslexic, that really helped when I was learning how to read, hearing it and working out how grammar sounded rather than just how it looked on the page.’
To understand the meaning of a text, we need to already know about 95-98% of the words on the page, and for struggling readers, this can feel daunting. It can be a chicken and egg situation where recognising more words makes reading easier, but reading is one of the best ways to learn new words! Audiobooks can help bridge this gap for young readers by exposing them to new vocabulary, engaging them with stories, and building their reading confidence.
Access to audiobook material is at an all-time high, with many books now included in music streaming packages. But did you know that thousands of free audiobooks are also easily accessible through your local library services on platforms like Libby and Borrowbox?
Charlotte recommends trying a mix of both formats, audio and print, if getting back into reading is one of your goals this year.
‘Sometimes you want to dip in and out. Try doing both and it just makes it so much easier and more accessible.’
Charlotte has been recording Heaven’s Graveyard by Grace Curtis which is published by Hachette in June 2026.