We are thrilled to welcome the talented Kinsale Hueston to the blog! Kinsale narrates the latest exciting entry in Rick Riordan Presents’ collection of culturally diverse adventure stories. Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse is a thrilling tale about a Navajo girl who discovers she’s a monsterslayer. In a starred review, Kirkus raved “Roanhorse shows that Native stories are active and alive. Native readers will see themselves as necessary heroes while readers of all walks will want to be their accomplices.”
Kinsale Hueston is a Diné poet from California, currently a student at Yale University and a recipient of the Yale Young Native Storytellers Award for Spoken Word/Storytelling. She served as a 2017-2018 National Student Poet, and has been featured in TIME magazine, The Los Angeles Times, NYLON, and more. Her work explores contemporary Indigenous issues and celebrates her family histories. Get to know this impressive first-time narrator!
This was your first experience recording an audiobook! Why were you drawn to RACE TO THE SUN; and why did you want to be the one to tell this story?
I think growing up I always wanted to read a story like this one. Because the story of the Holy people and the Creation stories were really big parts of my childhood and I loved Rick Riordan books, so I dreamed of being a demigod like in the books I read. So it was basically like living out my childhood dream. I loved it.
What was the experience of recording the audiobook like? Was there anything that surprised you?
It was a lot of fun. I think as a poet my voice is usually a lot more serious so it was really fun to loosen up and read a book targeted to a younger audience. And I think what surprised me most at first was how difficult it could be to keep up the same energy levels the whole time I was reading.
Did you have a favorite scene or moment from the story?
Yes, I loved the prom scene – I loved how awkward it was.
Share a favorite library memory from childhood.
Ever since I was in preschool I used to take a bus all the way to my school like twenty minutes away but we used to go to a bus stop that was right outside the big public library in my city, and my brother would take me there after school. And I would go to the older kids’ section of the library and read the older kids’ books and I loved sitting in a bean bag chair and reading those books because it made me feel so much older.
View all audio titles from Rick Riordan Presents.
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