Michael Kramer, a native of Minnesota, joined the staff of the Library of Congress talking-book program in 1993. His introduction to audiobook narration came through two giants of the audiobook world: Grover Gardner and Flo Gibson. He feels privileged to be able to work with many other fine narrators, including Ray Hagen, Laura Gianarelli, Celeste Lawson, Michael Russotto, Bernadette Flagler, Kate Fleming, not to mention his wife, Jennifer Mendenhall, who is also known as Kate Reading.
Kramer’s favorite authors from the talking-book program include Gary Paulsen, Cormac McCarthy, Elmore Leonard, Erich Maria Remarque, Carl Hiaasen, Brandon Sanderson, and Donald Bartholme to name just a few. Commercially, he has narrated more than two hundred titles by authors such as Donald E. Westlake, Richard Stark, John Jakes, Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, Mike Carey, Thomas Perry, Don Winslow, and Robert M. Pirsig.
His narration has received over a dozen AudioFile Magazine Earphones Awards, two Audio Publishers Association Audie Awards in 2015 and 2022 (with seven nominations), a Publishers Weekly ListenUp Award, a Vocal Artist nomination and two Stabbie Awards. In addition to audiobook narration, Kramer has been a Washington, DC-area theatre-artist for over 35 years and received a Helen Hayes Ensemble Award nomination with the cast of Never the Sinner for his portrayal of Clarence Darrow. He resides in Hyattsville, Maryland, with Jennifer Mendenhall and their two children, Henry and Vivian.
