John has been narrating audiobooks since 1984. His earliest projects were in association with the Texas State Library’s Talking Books Program, which provides free library services for Texans with blindness or visual, physical, or reading disabilities. John recorded many books on demand for library patrons, all of which are available in the Library’s catalog for free distribution to registered clients. He read in a large variety of genres and for nearly all age levels. Over time, he developed a specialty in reading books on the American West: its history, legends and lore.
In later years, John has also recorded many books for LibriVox (over 425 sections and counting), ranging from children’s poetry to Plutarch. For a complete, up-to-date listing of John’s LibriVox work, please click here. John has recently become a member of The Online Stage: a collective of narrators and actors who have come together to create high quality productions of classic dramatic works in audio format. John has been featured in many productions, from classics, like Sophocles and Shakespeare, to contemporary works by authors such as Wade Bradford and Mike Murphy. Many of these productions are available for purchase at Audible.com, while others can be obtained for free through the Internet Archive.
To make sure there was always food on the table, John worked for over 30 years at the Texas Department of State Health Services, latterly as the Deputy Regional Director of the 30-county region of Central Texas, the “hill country”. Over the years, John was involved in nearly every aspect of public health work, although in the years before he retired in 2013, he was prominent as a subject matter expert in public health preparedness and disaster response. As a result, he spent many long hours driving the highways and byways of Texas, giving him ample opportunity to listen to audiobooks and hone his craft by studying the great narrators and voice artists of the past 50 years.
John Burlinson -- Audiobook narrator & voice artist 