"All of my work comes from a musical point of view," says John, telling us his first reading of a book is like the first listening of a piece of music. "You have to be completely free. As you read and think about the piece, you hear voices, and it starts to take on life." John feels a serious responsibility for each book because the performance will affect listeners for years to come—a feeling shared by musical performers. John's readings of Jan Karon's Mitford series, starting with AT HOME IN MITFORD, have earned him many fans. Music plays a real role in these audiobooks in which scenes often center around the church choir and hymns. John sings each hymn, but first he checks the tune with author Karon, humming a few bars for her to recognize and confirm that was indeed the hymn she intended. In A NEW SONG, a new composition was presented to John without a musical score. He creatively solved this dilemma by asking his friend, composer and Grammy winner Paul Halley, to help him with a tune. Outside his audiobook work, John has performed with Garrison Keillor and recently starred in the revival of "Captain Kangaroo" on the Fox network. John has also been an ambassador to Reading Is Fundamental, which took him to dozens of elementary schools for reading aloud programs. John has a magical knack with children's stories. He brings twinkling humor—Robert McCloskey's CENTERBURG TALES; amazing facility for animal characters—try any one of Walter Brooks' Freddy series; and grandfatherly assurance—COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE CIVIL WAR by Albert Marrin. John loves the books for children because he knows that young kids want the story "totally." "You can't shade, you have to become those characters," he says. And, Freddy the Pig is always singing, giving John the opportunity to invent a tune. John's approach to more serious books suggests how he succeeds with titles like A SHORT HISTORY OF THE BYZANTIUM, and DEAR AND GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN by Taylor Caldwell. "With audiobooks you have an added dimension—listening. Your mind is free to imagine with the actor's help. You get beyond the technicality of the long, dense sentences." John notes his judicious use of the pause to allow a moment for a seed to germinate in the imagination of the listener. He's able to give each recording a sense of importance—allow it a rightful place—high or low—in the rich and varied world of recorded works. —[December 2001]

Born Janice Meredith Wilson in 1937, Jan Karon was raised on a farm near Lenoir, North Carolina. Karon knew at a very early age that she wanted to be a writer. She penned her first novel when she was 10 years old, the same year she won a short-story contest organized by the local high school. Karon married as a teenager and had a daughter, Candace. At 18, Karon began working as a receptionist for a Charlotte, N.C. advertising agency. She advanced in the company after leaving samples of her writing on the desk of her boss, who eventually noticed her talent. Karon went on to have a highly successful career in the field, winning awards for ad agencies from Charlotte to San Francisco. In time, she became a creative vice president at the high-profile McKinney & Silver, in Raleigh. While there, she won the prestigious Stephen Kelly Award, with which the Magazine Publishers of America honor the year's best print campaign. During her years in advertising, Karon kept alive her childhood ambition to be an author. At the age of 50, she left her career in advertising and moved to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to pursue that dream. After struggling—and failing—to get a novel underway, Karon awoke one night with a mental image of an Episcopal priest walking down a village street. She grew curious about him, and started writing. Soon, Karon was publishing weekly installments about Father Tim in her local newspaper, The Blowing Rocket, which saw its circulation double as a result. "It certainly worked for Mr. Dickens", says Karon. The Father Tim stories became Karon's first Mitford novel, At Home in Mitford. That book has since been nominated three times (1996, 1997, and 1998) for an ABBY (American Booksellers Book of the Year Award), which honors titles that bookstore owners most enjoy recommending to customers, and the only book ever nominated for three consecutive years. The fourth Mitford novel, A New Song, won both the Christy and Gold Medallion awards for outstanding contemporary fiction in 2000. A Common Life, In This Mountain, and Shepherds Abiding have also won Gold Medallion awards. Out to Canaan was the first Mitford novel to hit the New York Times bestseller list; subsequent novels have debuted on the New York Times list, often landing the #1 spot. Karon has also published two Christmas-themed books based on the Mitford series, The Mitford Snowmen and Esther's Gift, as well as Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader. Other Mitford books include Patches of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes, a compilation of wit and wisdom, and A Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration, Collected by Father Tim. In addition, Karon has written two children's books, Miss Fannie's Hat and Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, and an illustrated book for all ages, The Trellis and the Seed. Karon says her character-driven work seeks to give readers a large, extended family they can call their own. Though Light From Heaven is officially the final novel in the series, there's yet another Mitford book in this prolific author. Karon urges her millions of ardent fans to look for the Mitford Bedside Companion, releasing in the Fall of 2006. "It has everything in it but the kitchen sink", says Karon.