Behind the Mike: Dion Graham

Dion Graham won an Audie Award for his reading of Athol Dickson's River Rising (Recorded Bks., 2006), and his recordings of George Pelecanos's The Turnaround (BBC Audiobooks America) and Marcia Ann Gillespie and Richard A. Long's Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration (Brilliance Audio) were both LJ Best Audiobooks of 2008. Among his approximately 100 other audiobook credits are The Wild Things (Blackstone Audio, Oct. 2009), Dave Eggers's adult novelization of Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book, and Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them (BBC Audiobooks America/Hachette Audio, Nov. 1), a 2009 Oprah's Book Club selection.

How did you get your start as a narrator?

After some fortunate years of success as an actor, I was asked by a friend to record James Joyce's story "The Dead." He thought it would be fun to listen to. As it turned out, we both liked [the recording]; at least, I didn't hate it!

Then, while doing Tennessee Williams's Not About Nightingales in London, I met an actor who narrates in London and New York and asked him to make an introduction.

My first published title, which I read with Peter Francis James and Kim Staunton, was Sheneska Jackson's Caught Up in the Rapture (Recorded Bks., 2000).

How do you ensure that listeners connect to the printed word?

I try to approach every book I read with integrity, humor when appropriate, and faithfulness to the words. Most books attempt to tell us something about being human, about being alive—I hope my work reflects that.

What was it like to read James Baldwin's Another Country (BBC Audiobooks America, Feb. 2009)?

I'm a fan of Baldwin's, so it was a treat and an honor to narrate that 1962 classic, as relevant now as it was then—emotionally intense, provocative, painful, and full of humanity.

What's your favorite audiobook that you've narrated?

It's hard to pick a favorite, but Another Country would definitely be one of them. Another favorite is Dave Eggers's What Is the What (BBC Audiobooks America, 2007), a beautiful story of hope and survival written in collaboration with and about "lost boy" of Sudan Velentino Achak Deng.

What's the most challenging title you've ever narrated?

Fanon (Recorded Bks., 2008), definitely! John Edgar Wideman's deconstructed musing on [the late psychiatrist and anticolonialist intellectual] Frantz Fanon is by a writer trying to write a book about a writer trying to write a book about Frantz Fanon. And more!

What can we expect from you next?

Listeners can look forward to [my readings of] Timothy Zahn's Odd Girl Out (Recorded Bks., Dec. 20, 2009) and Peter Matthiessen's The Tree Where Man Was Born (Blackstone Audio, Mar. 1, 2010).