Here are some of the most outstanding Indigenous audiobook narrators you should be listening to, from award-winners to up-and-comers.
Erin Tripp
Erin Tripp, Tlingit of the Deisheetaan clan, was born and raised in Juneau, Alaska. A theater performer and voice actor, she was one of the narrators for AudioFile Earphones Award-winner The Smell of Other People’s Houses.
Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town
By Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
The Smell of Other People’s Houses
By Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Blood Sisters
By Vanessa Lillie
Gary Farmer
Gary Farmer was born in Ohsweken, Ontario into the Cayuga Nation and Wolf Clan of the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois Confederacy. In his narration of The Round House by Louise Erdrich, Farmer “introduces the listener to the Coutts family, members of the Ojibwe tribe who reside on a reservation in North Dakota in the 1980s,” sounding “earnest and respectful” (AudioFile).
The Round House
By Louise Erdrich
The Cold Millions
By Jess Walter
The Removed
By Brandon Hobson
Rainy Fields
Rainy Fields was born in Claremore, Oklahoma, and is a registered member of the Muskogee Creek Nation and is of Cherokee descent. When she’s not narrating audiobooks, she works with The Mayflower Welcoming Committee, an all-Native improv troupe, as well as the Native Voices at the Autry, the USA’s only Equity theater company dedicated to new works by Native playwrights. She also cohosts the podcast Hollywood Ndnz, exploring what it’s like to be Native in the entertainment industry.
Terese Marie Mailhot
By Terese Marie Mailhot
Calling for a Blanket Dance
By Oscar Hokeah
Rain Is Not My Indian Name
By Cynthia Leitich Smith
Cara Gee
Born in Alberta and raised in Ontario, film, television, and stage actress Cara Gee is Ojibwe. When she’s not acting for the TV series The Expanse, she lends her talents to voice acting and audiobook narration. In The Light Brigade, Gee “perfectly evokes the weary drawl of a battle-hardened soldier in this intricately constructed science fiction audiobook” (AudioFile).
My Heart Is a Chainsaw
By Stephen Graham Jones
Black Sun
By Rebecca Roanhorse
Fevered Star
By Rebecca Roanhorse
Isabella Star LaBlanc
Based in Minneapolis, Isabella Star LaBlanc is a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota stage, screen, and voice actor. Her performance in Firekeeper’s Daughter “brings an authentic-sounding narration to this powerful audiobook… Dialogue, including words in other languages, is handled with effortless transitions and clear depictions between characters” (AudioFile).
Firekeeper’s Daughter
By Angeline Boulley
Dark Roads
By Chevy Stevens
Warrior Girl Unearthed
By Angeline Boulley
The Only Good Indians
By Stephen Graham Jones
Harvest House
By Cynthia Leitich Smith
A Snake Falls to Earth
By Darcie Little Badger
Darrell Dennis
Darrell Dennis is an Indigenous comedian, actor, screenwriter and radio personality from the Secwepemc Nation in the interior of British Columbia. His extensive audiobook narrations include the acclaimed There There by Tommy Orange.
Winter Counts
By David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Night of the Living Rez
By Morgan Talty
Indigenous America
By Liam McDonald
Kyla Garcia
Kyla Garcia is an Indigenous actor, director, poet, and artivist raised on unceded Lenape land. Her people are the Taíno Nation of Borikén. Narration accolades include 13 AudioFile Earphones Awards and two Audie Award nominations for her work on Tommy Orange’s There There and Alan Gratz’s Refugee. Like fellow narrator Rainy Fields, Kyla is a proud ensemble member of Native Voices at the Autry. She is also the creator of the critically acclaimed one-woman show The Mermaid Who Learned How to Fly. Learn more at her website.
How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe
By Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Nocturna
By Maya Motayne
Hearts Unbroken
By Cynthia Leitich Smith
Tanis Parenteau
Tanis was born and raised in Peace River, Alberta. She is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta from Region VI and is of Plains Cree descent. Outside of narrating audiobooks, Tanis is an actor on both the stage and television, as well as the founder and owner of the production company TDEP Productions.
Bad Cree
By Jessica Johns
Winter in the Blood
By James Welch
Tainna
By Norma Dunning
Kinsale Drake
An enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, Kinsale Drake is an award-winning writer and poet, actress, audiobook narrator—all while enrolled at Yale University. Kinsale was named a new “rising star” within the audiobook world by BookRiot: “[Drake] narrates these stories in such a way that captures the youth and vibrancy of the stories’ protagonists. They’re spunky and self-assured, and [Drake] delivers their dialogue with all of the characters’ vibrant personalities.”
Race to the Sun
By Rebecca Roanhorse
Elatsoe
By Darcie Little Badger
A Snake Falls to Earth
By Darcie Little Badger
Kaniehtiio Horn
Kaniehtiio Horn a Canadian actress from Kahnawake, the Mohawk reserve outside of Montreal. The award-winning actress, who has worked on Letterkenny, Man in the High Castle, and Hemlock Grove, has also lended her skills to audiobook narration.
The Case of the Burgled Bundle
By Michael Hutchinson
The Laws and the Land
By Dr. Daniel Rück
Literatures, Communities, and Learning
By Aubrey Jean Hanson
Billy Merasty
Much like many audiobook narrators, Billy Merasty is also an actor, both on stage and on film. He was born on Brochet, Manitoba, Canada and is of Cree descent.
Moon of the Turning Leaves
By Waubgeshig Rice
Moon of the Crusted Snow
By Waubgeshig Rice
Thunder Through My Veins
By Gregory Scofield
Meegwun Fairbrother
Meegwun Fairbrother is Ojibwe and Scottish origin, from Treaty 3 territory. Growing up, he lived up on many First Nations communities across Northern Ontario where he he enjoyed hunting, fishing, and taking part in many Ojibwe cultural practices. Meegwun is an accomplished actor, as well as an Okichitaw Indigenous martial artist, personal trainer, and yoga teacher.
The Marrow Thieves
By Cherie Dimaline
Coyote Tales
By Thomas King
Hunting by Stars
By Cherie Dimaline
Tiffany Ayalik
Tiffany Ayalik is an Inuk performer, born and brought up in Yellowknife. As an actress and producer, Tiffany is known for her work on The Last Walk, Little Dog, and Molly of Denali. Her band Quantum Tangle won Indigenous Album of the Year at the Juno Awards in 2017.
The Hunter and the Old Woman
By Pamela Korgemagi
Saqiyuq
By Nancy Wachowich
Sanaaq
By Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk
Tamala Shelton
Tamala Shelton is a Bundjalung and Lama Lama actor, writer and spoken word artist based in Naarm (Melbourne). She has since been narrating a multitude of First Nations audiobooks and is the host of Storybox Library. She started acting as a teenager and starred in shows such as Upper Middle Bogan, Nowhere Boys and Cleverman.
Benevolence
By Julie Janson
The Year the Maps Changed
By Danielle Binks
Pemulwuy
By Eric Willmot
Wilton Littlechild
Wilton Littlechild took a break from his work as a Canadian lawyer and Cree chief (who served as Grand Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations and as a member of Parliament) to narrate Fred Sasakamoose’s powerful memoir Call Me Indian. He is a survivor of residential schools, the harmful network of mandatory boarding schools in Canada from 1894 to 1947; these were intended to isolate Indigenous children and assimilate them into Canadian culture.
Call Me Indian
By Fred Sasakamoose
Self-Narrated Audiobooks by Indigenous Authors
Scratching River
By Michelle Porter
The Sentence
By Louise Erdrich
The Night Watchman
By Louise Erdrich
Braiding Sweetgrass
By Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Last Pow-Wow
By That Native Thomas
The Beadworkers
By Beth Piatote
Walking the Old Road
By Staci Lola Drouillard
Great Spirit Told Me
By Michael Looking Coyote
Unreconciled
By Jesse Wente
Doty Meets Coyote
By Thomas Doty
Split Tooth
By Tanya Tagaq
In My Own Moccasins
By Helen Knott
An American Sunrise
By Joy Harjo
Fry Bread
By Kevin Noble Maillard
Postcolonial Love Poem
By Natalie Diaz
Is there another Indigenous audiobook narrator you’ve listened to and loved?
Let us know in the comments below!
I’m surprised not to see Robin Wall-Kimmerer here, as she read her own book Braiding Sweetgrass. But I’m very glad to have found your website! Thank you for assembling this collection of Indigenous Audiobook Narrators. You’ve given me a good place to do some of my homework as a settler, trying to learn reciprocity.
Thank you Betty! That was our mistake—just added Braiding Sweetgrass to our section of author-read audiobooks.
I recently read And then she Fell by Alicia Elliot; excellent book. Narrated by Jenna Clause & Cheri Maracle. Alicia narrates her memoir A Mind Spread out on the Ground which is also excellent.