The 15th annual Audie Awards, recently held by the Audio Publisher’s Association (APA), proved that oral storytelling is still alive and thriving. The awards recognize the best in voice narration within categories such as fiction, humour, mystery, romance and business. Up for Audiobook of the Year were the following titles: Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales, The Time of My Life and The Word of Promise Audio Bible— most likely, none of these will be that familiar to the average reader, but the celebrity voices attached to them definitely will be: Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Helen Mirren, Patrick Swayze, Richard Dreyfuss, Marisa Tomei and Scarlett Johansson, to name a few.
“I remember, 20 years ago, I’d tell people I worked in audiobooks and they’d say, ‘Oh, like for the blind?’,” says Janet Benson, president of the APA board. “Now, it’s a lot more mainstream — a teenager I met on the plane got excited when I told him what I did for a living and that surprised me at first, but it turned out he was dyslexic and audiobooks had gotten him excited about wanting to read again.”
Below are some of the winners from last night’s gala.
Audiobook of the Year: Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales
Audio Drama: The Word of Promise Audio Bible
Audiobook Adaptation: The Maltese Falcon
Biography/Memoir: Anne Frank Remembered
Business/Educational: Rain
Classic: Great Expectations
Fiction: The Help
Mystery and Suspense: Devil in a Blue Dress
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