This year’s Audie Awards gala – yep, still virtual – is scheduled for March 4: here’s a list of the nominees. (Well, the nominees that we’re able to get in libraries; some productions are unavailable for library distribution; find the full list here.
So who’s in the running? Everybody who’s anybody, including such seasoned narrators as Edoardo Ballerini (reading local author Jonathan Evison’s Legends of the North Cascades), Julia Whelan, (reading local author Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds, also up for Best Audiobook of the Year), Lin-Manuel Miranda (oh yes, he does audiobooks too), honorary Seattlite Dave Grohl for his terrific memoir The Storyteller, and Barack Obama reading his A Promised Land, and no doubt looking to pair Michelle Obama’s 2020 Audie award with one of his own.
But my favorite part of these Awards is to explore less well known entries, perhaps from genres I don’t already listen to, or books I don’t know. A great example of this was Mary Jane Wells’ powerful and moving one woman show Heroine (finalist, Best Original Work), which is based on the actual experiences of a US Army soldier who survived sexual trauma that brought her into combat situations with her abusers. Or Brad Fraser, whose All the Rage ( finalist, Narrated by the Author) recounts with his trademark wit and candor the rise of this polarizing queer actor and playwright in the staid Canadian theater scene. Or He Saw That It Was Good (finalist, Faith-based fiction or Non-fiction), in which hip-hop artist Sho Baraka explores the intersection of creativity and faith in overcoming challenges and reaching a higher place.
There are many more Audies categories, including Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery, Memoir, Young Adult fiction, History, and more, so check out our list of nominees today.
~ Posted by David W.
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