Snow White and Seven Twisted Tales

Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was born in Odense, Denmark, the son of a poor shoemaker and a washerwoman. As a young teenager, he became quite well known in Odense as a reciter of drama and as a singer. When he was fourteen, he set off for the capital, Copenhagen, determined to become a national success on the stage. He failed miserably, but made some influential friends in the capital who got him into school to remedy his lack of proper education. In 1829 his first book was published. After that, books came out at regular intervals. His stories began to be translated into English as early as 1846. Since then, numerous editions, and more recently Hollywood songs and Disney cartoons, have helped to ensure the continuing popularity of the stories in the English-speaking world.

The improbable life story of Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) included a peculiarly gothic childhood in Ireland during which he was successively abandoned by his mother, his father and his guardian; two decades in the United States, where he worked as a journalist and was sacked for marrying a former slave; and a long period in Japan, where he married a Japanese woman and wrote about Japanese society and aesthetics for a Western readership. His ghost stories, which were drawn from Japanese folklore and influenced by Buddhist beliefs, appeared in collections throughout the 1890s and 1900s. He is a much celebrated figure in Japan.

Madame d’Aulnoy (1650–1705) was a French writer best known for her fairy tales. Among her stories are “The Story of Pretty Goldilocks,” “Princess Mayblossom,” “The White Doe,” and “The Little Good Mouse.” Many of her stories have been anthologized, most notably by Andrew Lang in his fairy book volumes.

Emma Faye, a.k.a. "The Clean Reads Queen," is an audiobook narrator and actor with a passion for bringing stories to life. She specializes in YA, sweet romance, fantasy, inspiring nonfiction, and anything clean. She has twenty-plus years of acting experience and has voiced over thirty audiobooks. Recording in her professional home studio, Emma dives deep into the characters and stories to bring them to life in a fresh and captivating way. She puts her heart into every project and it comes across when you are listening to her audiobooks. Emma also runs a local community theater, moderates a support group for women going through betrayal trauma, and is a proud cat mom of four kitties.

Tim Lounibos is a longtime film/TV actor whose credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, JAG, The West Wing, Bosch, and NCIS. Tim's voice has been described as rich, soothing, expressive, gritty, and honest. He loves bringing conflicted heroes, misunderstood characters, wise elders, and sinister antagonists to life. His favorite genres include fantasy/sci-fi, crime, mystery/thriller, YA, horror, self-help, and biography. When not acting, Tim enjoys playing board games, solving escape rooms, and laughing and hanging with family and friends.

Lauren Pedersen lends a pleasantly confident voice to fiction and nonfiction. Her many roles in life provide great range to her vocal productions. As a pharmacist educator her voice is comfortably professional with health and wellness topics. As a group fitness instructor her voice is clear and authoritative. As a mother of two her voice provides kind animation to characters, drawing listeners into discovery as each chapter unfolds. Her love for storytelling is articulated in memoirs and fiction. And her strong personal faith means she will bring life to uplifting content with Christian values.