Theres something elemental about speaking the story that puts it to a different task. Narrators bring stories to life in countless ways. The works of shakespeare, toni morrison, Jason Reynolds and Michelle Obama are ace are richer experience heard rather than silent we read. Because of an intimate experience youre not performing per se. You are narrating it. And constantly listening and now get out my iphone and make a recording of someone that might have some characteristic. I feel like its less of myself as a poet who performs and now its myself being let me hold your hand and tell you this thing i heard was so inviting people but its in a different way. If i dont give everybody the utmost respect and understanding and compassion and the im not doing justice to this book. Studies have shown that listening to audiobooks is a more Emotional Experience and tories shared through other mediums. Its not a movie. Its not a book but it has the best of both worlds. Its a very intimate form of the experience of the story as you have an actual human being giving the story to you and i absolutely love that. I love when i listen to all your books is hearing the feeling of how that person is telling thestory. Your in your novel read aloud, being transformed into an audiobook is such an honor and privilege that offers new depths and layers to a story. It in a time of experimentation where everything goes in the formis finding itself. Also another way to access literature and often times its a way to access literature for nontraditional readers. Thats more people experience great stories, even people who cant read yet. You are all the reason that 50 percent of americans listen to an audiobook in 2019 so heres to all of you. Heres the amazing audiobooks and heres a 25 years of the audie awards. Ladies and gentlemen, we are thrilled to introduce this evenings master of ceremonies. The witty and wonderful mister mo rocca, a frequent panelist on nprs heat hit weekly quiz show wait wait dont tell me. He is the author and audiobook narrator of the New York Times bestseller mobituary and is also the host of the mobituary podcast. Wereexcited to have him as our host this evening so without further ado , mo rocca. [applause] thank you, thank you. Iam mo rocca and this is kind of a dream for me i have to say. Here i am in this fabulous venue and in front of this glitteringcrowd and stephen king is here. [applause] i mean, i feel like carriewhen she was asked to the prom. Anyway, i think ive been given the royal otreatment. They sent a car r for me, how nice of that. Christine sweetie, ill be out in about two hours. Christine answered back, nice. It is the 25th anniversary of the audie awards and things have never been better for this sector of the publishing industry. It is growing by leaps and bounds. Seven years of doubledigit growth, 45,000 titles last yearalone with revenues of over 1 billion. [applause] and High School Cafeteria that is the publishing world the audiobook people are sitting at the cool kids table. And the ebooks people are begging them for lunch money but the ebooks people dont need your pity, they just need something to eat. In a sign of how hot audiobooks have become, tonights nominees include serious star power. Meryl streep is nominated for a audie tonight, very exciting. She is nominated for reading charlottes web. I hear her spider accent is amazing. Thank you. That category, audiobook of the year is superstar studded. Tom hanks is in that category reading the dutch house. I dont know what that book is about but im sure that tom hanks has made it supremely likable. He could read the unit bombers manifesto and i think i kind of like this guy and and dowd and Bryce Dallas Howard art nominated for the testaments the sequel to the handmaids tale. That sounds fun. And who else is in that category . Who else is in that category . Michelle . Oh, Michelle Obama. Thats great, she hasa book out . I hope peoplefind it. Anyway, let me say meryl streep was so good reading charlottes web that shes already been hired to narrate the sequel. Pet cemetery. That was pretty good, right . It makes perfect sense that we are honoring stephen king tonight not only for his steadfast support of audiobooks but also becauseof the nightmare we are ouliving through his like something out of a stephen king horror. [applause] i know youre asking which nightmare im referring to. Im talking about the one that has us all shaking hands with our elbows. Im just curious, i havent read the stand, how do things turn out . Maybe ill skip it. Demi moore is nominated tonight which is fitting because when i think of the audiobook publishing world i think of demi moore and Woody Harrelson rolling around a bed like in decent proposal all over a pile of cash and the ebooks people arejust watching. They dont get to touch and then of course there are the real audiobook stars, not be johnny come lately hollywood arrived just trying to hop this gravy train, im talking real audiobook voices. Back it up, hollywood. Scott brick, where is he . A. K. A. The master of hydration, thatswhat hes known as. I met him earlier and let me tell you his voice is so handsome,its crazy. Last years male and female narrators of the year are here, and warren out ballerina and julia wayman. [applause] Bonnie Churkin and simon vance are here. [applause] they are both in the narrator hall of fame although i do wonder why there is ana nextto simon vances name. I think he was testedpositive for doping, thats what i heard. It was a long book he had to read, give him a break. Emmy and audio winner joe morton is here. As is the silky voice january lavoie. January lavoie might, my only disappointment isthese awards didnt happen two months ago because then i would have been able to say ithink this is our month. Okay, thats kind of a bad joke. Hillary huber is nominated. For best female narrator. Hillary is also doing the voice of god introductions tonight. So for everyones sake, i hope she wins. Because you dont want an angry voiceof god. Know you dont, mo. You dont want to make me angry. You wouldnt like her when shes angry. Hillary huber, please reveal yourselfso we can worship you. [applause] where is she going . Shes sitting down, all right. For a little history. While the audie awards began 25 years ago the audiobook itself goes back much further. The first work of western literature was in fact an audiobook. Im talking of course about the iliad as read by homer. Wanted James L Jones he was unavailable read as anyone who took High School Latin can tell you homers work was intended to be heard, not read and the iliad received raves as did its sequel the odyssey. Homer had a coupondeal. There was a, go with it, its whimsical. There was a problem though, this being 100 bc there was no such thing as a recorded sound. So listeners had to find homer and get him torecite his words life. Homer was life, he was just wandering around so you never knew where to find him and lets just say you get five, he could be very cranky, especially when you pokedhim to get him to go back 50 minutes or when you asked him to read at 2x. Needless to say, this was not a solidbusiness plan. In fact, you could say was an theyll. Are there any librarians here . You guys love it, the librarians have my back. Fast forward 2785 years to the dawn of the modern audiobook over at simon and schuster audio, their very first title in 1985 was a total thriller. You all remember, how to get your point across in 30 seconds or less as read by franco milo. They wanted James L Jones but he was busy doing voiceovers for cnn. Just a decade later came the first audio awards, among them in was theoriginal host of cbs sundaymorning , charles kuralt. Im very proud to be on that show and had only three of the subjects to me. I recorded my own audiobook this year, thank you very much. Mobituary, great lives worth reliving and i had requested jim gale, not because of harry potter but because i saw him in the original cast of barton when i was 12 he was super. But he was busy doing something with harry potter i i think so i ended up recording my own audiobook to finish and it was a revelatory experience. For one thing, i discovered how many words ive been mispronouncing all my life. I thought the word was cocoa, its actually cocoa. I found it was a via, its a biopic. And i thought the word was posthumous which i know makes me sound like daffy duck but its actually posthumous. To be clear, i wrote a book of obituaries and i didnt know how to pronounce posthumous fortunately i had a terrific producer, scott sherrick. And scott, took me by the tongue and help guide me through a Creative Process which is much more nuanced than i realized. A form of communication all of its own. Part storytelling, acting , only engaging with an audience that unseen with your voice, your heart andyour soul. All while doing your best not to pop your piece. Posthumous. And so i am proud to be here to celebrate all of tonights nominees. [applause] and now lets find out who actually won. At the audie most of the awards will be acknowledged by the winners standing at their tables for flaws practice how were going to acknowledge winners. Will all of the judges are with us tonight and be recognized for their hard work . [applause] we couldnt do any of this without you. All right, great job. Now one more practice session , will all of the finalists in the audience the stand and be recognized. Back. Recognition goes to Penguin Random house audio for coming. [applause] the people have spoken. And now its my pleasure to introduce the first presenters evening, jared is the oddity nominated author of hey kiddo which was a finalist. His grandfather used to sayne theyre going to name him oscar and his name wouldve been a great way to learn to pronounce his last name assuming you have an accent. Mo williams writes awardwinning books, television plays. He currently serves at the candy since First Education artist in residence. Thanks to nprs rule he is yet to be a contestant on wait, wait, dont tell me. That needs to change because he is fantastic. Please welcome gerrit and the other mo. [applause] thank you. Nonfiction has been described as trying to write the truth and make it read like fiction. These files have created a world for us to learn from. The finalists for nonfiction are and the audie for nonfiction goes to mcmillan audio for grace will lead us home. [applause] it is said that those two do not know history are doomed to repeat it. If so, how do they know they are repeating it . It is also said that history is written by the winners which seems a little unkind to the finalists. However, the finalists for history biography are i have the envelope. The history biography envelope, it says harper audio for american moonshot. [applause] there you go. The finalists for autobiography memoir are and the audie goes to Penguin Random house for becoming by Michelle Obama. [applause] our next presenter, marcus samuel, red rooster harlem, marcus montreal in newark, new jersey, and opening a a new red rooster in Overtown Miami creator of the audible original our harlem, samuel was also the youngest person to ever receive a 3star review from the New York Times and has won multiple foundational awards including best chef, new york city, season two of this pbs show no pass is required to watch online at pbs. Org. Please welcome to the stage marcus samuelsson. [applause] thank you, mo. Great job. Actually its the first time im doing this. You just have to get me, give me a chance. Im very, very excited. So the finalist for business and personal development are and the audie goes to harper audio, so you want to start a podcast. [applause] the finalist for humor is so the audie goes to more bedtime stories for cynics. [applause] the finalists for faithbased fiction and nonfiction are and the audie goes to how the light gets in. [applause] all righty. Next to present is celebrity judge adam silvera, the New York Times bestselling author of they both die at the end, more happy than not, and history is all you left me. His most recent bestselling book is infinity was published this past january. Please welcome to the stage adam silvera. [applause] good evening. Thank you all so much for being here today. I would like to see i kind of came to the gay game a little eight. I came out like 20e years old, and its because i didnt get to like reading gay a book until s like 19 when i was emboldened but i cannot imagine if i dont audiobooks existed when i was like ten. I would have been so much sooner. [laughing] like a really gay. [applause] thankfully, thanks to all the booksellers and teachers and educators and librarians come withhe audiobooks for all ages beginning with young listeners. And the finalists all right. On the audio for young listener goes to weston woods for the pigeon has to go to school [applause] moving on up, the finalists for middle grade are all right. And the audie for middle grade goes to were getting there Penguin Random house audio for charlottes web. [applause] they can take very long time to become young. Picky finalists helpless along the way. The finalists for young adult are and the audie for young adult goes to scholastic audio for hey, kiddo. [applause] our next presenters are a wellwritten pair. Number one New York Times and number one audible bestselling author Lauren Blakely can often be found with earbuds in listening to an audiobook, usually romance, humor or a comedians memoir. Stacy and chin is a jamaican mother, writer, traveling artist and activist, author of the other side of paradise, esquire, and the audible original by the struck, she is a ride or die new yorker who refuses to leave brooklyn. Please welcome to the stage Lauren Blakely and stacy and chin. [applause] short story collections, tiny worlds into other worlds delight us with her insight and their intelligence. The finalists for short stories collections are and the audie goes to harper audio for full throttle. [applause] fiction reveals truth, unearth many, transports us and grounds us at once. Apparently, the president doesnt read fiction. [laughing] fiction is the magic that thousands us, just like the following finalists have dazzled us. And the audie goes to Penguin Random house audio for the water dance. [applause] bahni turpin is a Los Angelesbased actress and founder of a Food Cooperative is a multiple audie award winner, a twotime odyssey award winner, an audiophile magazine golden voice has been inducted into the audible hall of fame. Jacqueline woodson is a bestselling author of more than two dozen awardwinning books, a fourtime National Book award finalist, a fourtime Newbury Andre winner, a twotime naacp image award winner and a twotime Coretta Scott king award winner. Please welcome them both to the stage. [applause] we practiced, not. [laughing] of my goodness, ive listen to the water dancer four times. Sorry, but thats not what i am announcing now. The finalists for romance are and the winner is harper audio, devils daughter. [applause] please stand and be recognized. Do i say that part . [laughing] if you dont know this, we are reading. [applause] all my goodness. I didnt win and i have so much work here. The finalists of fantasy are and the audie goes to the ten thousand doors of january. [applause] please stand and be recognized. All right. My turn. The finalists for sciencefiction are and the audie goes to brilliance publishing for emergency skin. [applause] thank you. Please give a warm welcome to apa president ana Maria Allessi. [applause] hello. Im ana Maria Allessi and im the president of the apa board of directors, and its my pleasure to turn our attention to mr. Stephen king, who for years long before audiobooks where fashionable has championed the work that all of you do and all the magic that you make. Through his support he has expanded the audience for and inspired improvements to audiobooks. And its with wholehearted enthusiasm and gratitude that we celebrate stephen king by sharing with them a Lifetime Achievement award. [applause] steve, first off today, thank you for all of the thrilling adventures yet taken as on books for children. I feel honored to have been even a small part of your imagination of artistry. At how to pleasure of recording one of your books which one and audie. We wish you many more. I have to tell you, i think about your characters all the time. I had the pleasure of doing narrative of your book. I was honored and lucky to read very difficult and wonderful, treacherous book. I was lucky enough to get rule one for all writers is. [inaudible] its going to be fun scaring people but also learning about human nature because at the end of the day thats what you read is about. I understand how someone could go without realizing the husband [inaudible] stephen king is certainly the world is a much better place for. Stephen king was to be read 100 years from now. I am honored to read your stories. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations, mr. King. Congratulations. Congratulations on the Lifetime Achievement award. Nobody deserves a better than stephen king. You have achieved enough for four or five lifetimes but right on, rock on. [applause] were going to head it off in a second. Handed off in the second, as exciting [applause] as presenting this award [applause] its actually our very special treat to have joe hill present the actual award. So you all know joe, medication need reminding come hes the bestselling author of and he just a few seconds ago one a audie for fullud throttle and hs has i a hit netflix is a very happy to welcome mr. Joe hill. [applause] annamaria, thank you. Im honored to be a tonight to celebrate audiobooks alongside the people who workte so hard so brilliantly to bring them to readers everywhere. Im especially pleased because i have the privilege presenting aa Lifetime Achievement audie award to stephen king who as you all know is the best ambassador for audiobooks that anyone could wish or hope for. His loving contagious enthusiasm for the form goes back decades. I know. I was there. [laughing] my parents met in poetry class and after they married they filled the house with books. Books could be found in every room crammed on shelves and stacked in piles. When we sat at dinner our conversation revolved almost entirely around makebelieve people, imaginary worlds, fictional conflicts, over plates of my dads culinary specialty, with generous helpings of hamburger conifer we would talk about bookstores, publishing and the wellknown moral failings of literary critics. [laughing] the best part of those days came after dinner when we t flopped n the couch and passed a book a rented we took turns reading aloud to each other. In this way we work through the lion and the wardrobe, and the burglar, at the stories which are so pretentious and overwritten they put us into hysterics. In bangor, maine, stories were always in the air and in the ear. Im not telling anything you dont know when i say my dad is a glutton for stories. He can barely stand to go awaking i with picking out on one. This dinner must be telling him. Think of all the pages he is inbreeding right now. When i was a kid i never saw him go anywhere without a paperback in hand. At fenway park you read between innings and use the in papers to score the game. He would read pages wait in line to buy movie tickets and three more waiting in line for popcorn. But what was a compulsive reader to do with all a person time on his hands were not available for turning the pages, such as when taking the threehour drive from one end of maine to the other . The answer of course was listen to an audiobook and if the kids complained, turn up the volume until you couldnt hear them. In the 1980s the audiobooks that were commercially available were far from satisfactory for a guy like my dad. To keep prices low it was necessary to reduce every novel to just two cassettes required in my dad skew the difference between getting a hold no, i hamburger side of fries and a coke, and getting a greasy wax paper they hamburger came wrapped in. Not real appealing. He discovered a Mail Order Companies that offered unabridged readings. They did nephi have huge select they had enoughh and enough as you have heard. My dad was, would order books by favorite writers, steinbeck, macdonald. Soon enough i will really begin order books based on not he wrote them but on who was reading them. He felt in love with certain voices and woodson w for books o listen to another story written by frank muller. When recorded books couldnt getting a novelty want to hear he had another resource, his children. Like all children we had mercantile souls. Our father exploited our greed to build up his library of audiobooks paying us to read novels onto cassette. I think are starting salary waso about 12 for 60 60 minutes, bt his best reader, my sister naomi, was a ruthless negotiator and eventually were to up to 20 per tape. He got the audioen he wanted and an unforeseen but side effect his kids learned how to have confidence in their own power to give a story voice. The pleasure my father took in the tapes we made for him and in the cassettes he ordered from recorded books made him want better for other audiobook readers pick he began to refuse abridgments of his own novels pushing for complete adaptations. I release his books in full teachings expectation to what an audiobook should and could be. It turned out a whole lot other readers wanted the whole meal, to pick of course my dad argument for working with some of the best. Four years frank muller licked his rise voice to stephen kings work. My dad remarked once when he wrote a new story he would often hear frank muller reading it back to him in his head. Other tales were brought to light by some brilliant readers to ever step to the mic, kathy bates, ron mccarty, will patton and others hey, for those of you who wonder what it would have been like to i got in the qing household after dinner, while we passed a book around, it is easy enough to satisfy your interest. My dad has read several of his own stories on audio and my mother read the house on maple street for one of his many audio collections. His love for the form extended to us to say to release several stories in audio first people leaving that was the best possible to enjoy sensing government to be told and heard even more than red. His love for the gifted readers who bring audiobooks to life is why after frank muller suffered a critical brain injury in 2001 and was left hospitalized without adequate insurance, my father started aeq foundation to offer Financial Assistance to performing artists who suffered the worst sortci of injuries and personal calamities. [applause] the Haven Foundation and went on to serve many others because quote my dads need has never been greater. After close to five decades of enthusiastically evangelizing for the audiobook forum, tireless offering his support to people make audiobooks possible and inspiring hundreds of thousand people to discover the joy of good story well told, it is hard to write that this evening he should receive a Lifetime Achievement audio award. Award. Please give it up for him once again. [applause] thank you. Thank you. Make a hell of a murder weapon, wouldnt it . [laughing] its heavy. No, im not going to take a lot of your time. You could be listening to an audiobook. [laughing] joe, ill get your check to you, i promise you. [laughing] no, i was just going too say tht still tot this day george caddel used to call himself old gravel cords. I can still hear them in those early days say, if the cassette fails to play, smack it smartly against the palm of your hand. [laughing] if youan cannot otherwise free e reals, return it to us and we will send you another cassette. Those with the old days and since then we have come a a log way. Audio has come a long way, and i did want to say one more thing. People will sometimes ask me, do you read your own books . Which is are ridiculous thing to say. I know how they all come out. [laughing] but you know what . I listen to them all, and the reason why is because you hear everything you did write and you hear everything that you did wrong. This is the most honorable form of storytelling there is that goes back to the very beginning. And i have some readers that i just love, fantastic job. Alter graham did christine. [applause] and i gave him his first acting job. We crawled through a tunnel together and got almighty, we did. That was for a maximum overdrive movie and it was the best part of it. Hey, guys, thank you very much. I appreciate it. [applause] im really happy to introduce my very good friend and colleague, mary beth roche. [applause] president and publisher of mcmillan audio. We are thrilled to present a little bit sad but mostly thrilled to present Beth Anderson a special Achievement Award. [applause] im hoping to get through this. I am delighted to be a part of presenting a special Achievement Award to bath tonight because beth is one of those very first people i met when he joined the audiobook business and itth was clear from the start that shes someone very special. Now, at thecc risk of making a sound incredibly ancient, i will admit that was before the first ipod was invented, and beth audio employee number 11, was really great at downloading and streaming and this is the time you can watch peoples eyes rolled back in the head when you said the were downloading, but she could explain it beautifully even to the occasional publishing tech for. Shes like it or for being utterly reliable. She served on the apa board for more than 20 years and you could always count on her to raise her hand to help with whatever needed done, being done. Over the years she devoted countless hours delving into the thorniest issues. Graciously taking on often thankless tasks. Such as ensuring the consistency in a research of data and bring our process into the digital age. Beth seesth things through whetr shes finding the perfect speaker for one of the many or helping to launch the prize of the center for fiction in the memory of a beloved colleague. Shes managed to walk with grace that very competent line as all of us must manage between looking out for the interests of our employer while also safeguarding the interests of our industry. But that isnt just about details and data. That is how to bring the fun. What do you want to kayak after the audio or looking for great restaurant recommendation, or you just want to make an event a little more special. Many of us remember that donning a gold sequined dress in Javits Center bring a little more clever to the first daytime audie awards. Even when beth took an occasional break, she does it with aplomb. No umbrella drink sitting on a beach with beth. No, no. Shes out hiking. We have with us tonight and the present group of actors who amaze us with the many roles that they play. That is not an actress but i would argue with her extraordinary loyalty, intelligence, determination and uncommon sense of fairness, beth is ase bright light in the many roles of her life. Devoted daughter, sister, aunt, friend, audio enthusiasts, and colleague. Our industry is a better place because you have been in it and look for to hearing about the future adventures in your 2020 vision and beyond. When people learned about the special achievement we received accolades from many of her office and colleagues and anna maria will share one of them with you now. So this is from don katz and he has this to say about that. I can only begin to note the profound impact beth has had and will always have on audible and on me as a friend and advisor pick as an audible pioneer she helped define his at our headwater as part of the early gang as we called yourself. We had to battle just about every industry status quo and like so many insurgent paths we drew together because audible was like a movement, a cause we went on as comrades to mark the lights of listeners that tens of millions in a single year. Few people across the world of well composed words are owed a more lasting sense of gratitude. So please join us in showing Beth Anderson just how grateful we are for all she is done for audiobook community. [applause] this thing matches my dress. So friday was my last day in office and so today is officially the first day of my retirement, and that is a this is great. [applause] thank you very much. I i know there been some wonderl pioneers and legends in our business who have received this award before, tim, judy, grady, linda, robin, frank, george, bob and debra. Ian am honored to follow in ther footsteps. Ive been doing a lot of reflection over the past few months letting my mind wander down memory lane, and in this process i have come to realize how far the apa and the audiobook world has. As both a jovial and steve king mentioned, yes, we were originally abridged but there been many other advances. For instance, the very first audie i remember was conducted in a very damn hotel basement. I believe in chicago and it was directly after very damned hotel. I think there was a cash bar, but not much else. Believe me, this event is about 1000 times more glamorous than that when was. But it was a start. When i i started in audible in 1980 1996, audiobooks were generally three to six hours on cassette. Narrators worked from paper manuscripts and were recorded in studios on tape. People listen on the walkman or shuffling tapes and evs into their car player. Back in the early days a rare celebrity performance might have been Burt Reynolds doing and abridged western. We had to explain the audiobooks were not only for the blind are the lazy, and we could only dream, could only dream of primetime ads or a New York Times bestseller list for spoken word audio. We have indeed come a long way. [applause] i have loved my work at audible a work with this group and with this industry. I always treasure the fact that while we may compete with each other foror particular projectsr over dollars or deal turns, when it comes to driving the audio industry forward, we have locked arms in worked together. So while you honor me tonight, i include all of you for what weve accomplished together. Im sure there are many more exciting advancements too. Ill be watching and listening, thank you. [applause] let me welcome to the stage celebrity judge the New York Times bestselling author of the vacationers and modern levers. Her next novel in audiobook all adults who will be published in may 2020. May 2020. Welcome to the stage, emma stroud. [applause] so when they told us that we celebrity judges were going to have a few moments to ad lib. , i thought like the cutest story that i know about audiobooks is joe hill and his family recording books for stephen king because i grew up with their family and so i knew he was going to tell that already, so just play that one again in your head. Thats my cute audiobook story. What is better than one narrator . Multiple narrators working together to create an intimate performance that transports the listener. The finalists for multivoice performance are and the audie goes to Simon Schuster audio for the only plane in the sky an oral history of 9 11. [applause] okay. Next up, i cant say anything until the teleprompter tells me what im going to say. Or i could just make it up. Okay. The finalists for audio drama are and the audie goes to Penguin Random house audio for angels in america. [applause] you guys have fun here in audiobook land. The finalists for original work are and the audie goes to Audible Originals for evil eye. [applause] presenting next is another of our celebrity judges, r. Eric thomas, a senior staff writer at elle magazine. His first book in audiobook, how to save your soul in america was just published lastt month. He was called one of the finest writers on this internet. Please welcome to the stage r. Eric thomas. [applause] oh, my god. I am so generally odd to be in room with all of you. I come from a family of audiobook listeners. I am a lifelong audiobook deeply, deeply in awe by you and the work that you do. We used to bar them from the library, borrow the star trek novels i really enjoyed but the first audiobook i remember as mine was the bible. My father was insistent and became on cassette and believe it wasam unabridged and so it ws like literally like 60 cassette and it cameal in a case like the nuclear codes. [laughing] and us told my father i was doing this and hes like i listen to all of it. I hope youou did. I remember poli at a cassette and just listening to it and like deuteronomy listening get a listening to suck the n right. Im loving my life right now. A couple months ago i was in nashville and the driver had was told he is also a voice actor us asking about it. He was told he was up for our new recording of the bible. Did they add something . No, they are just doing it again. And i was like they will pull a mack truck full of money to your house because as like nine years of recording. So im rooting forso him. Ive got to go. Our first category the nominees in fiction are and the audie goes to Penguin Random house audio for the city of girls. [applause] the finalists for mystery e and the audie goes to harperaudio for the chestnut man. [applause] the finalists for thriller suspense are and the audie goes to Simon Schuster audio for the institute. [applause] okay. From this point forward we invite those who win a audie to join us on states to say a few words. Here to present the awards for narration on the 2019 winners for best female narrator and male narrator and the voices of its evenings finalists videos, so you know the voices well for many reasons, julie whelan and eduardo ballerini. [applause] hi, guys. Hello. Hello. All right. We have copies. According to according to a 2018 study, listening listen to audiobooks increases the emotional impact of stories of watching them on a screen. And now for the finalist for narration by author or authors are narration by author or authors. Becoming, written and narrated by Michelle Obama. Inside out, written and narrated by denny more. Madame, written and narrated by sophie dahl. , one mayors home challenge and a model for namericas future written and narrated by pete trance buttigieg. The way home, written and narrated by lisa acevedo. [applause] okay and the audie goes to harbor audio would form with the fire on high. [applause] liz is sorry she couldnt make it but she said she sent us a few words. I am completely honored by the support. It means so much for me to know that the way i render the stories resonates with the listeners. I come from a tradition of oralstorytelling, not a narrator. My grandfather could recite long intricate riddles from memory. My mother raised to me with elaborate stories of her youth growing up in the countryside of the dominican republic. In fact when i am writing i am always reading out loud. And editing with my ear. It is critical to me that the sound of music of the story ring true. The opportunity to lend my own voice to text and lifted off the page has been such a fulfilling one. Heres where it getsawkward. Special thanks to karen galen, itmust be awkward to read your name. It must be awkward to read a eb thank you to yourself but i want folks to know shes oddly right. Not every author is given the chance to voice their own work or to have such an amazing director taking sure every note is spot on. I am lucky to have such a wonderful producer. Thank you all on behalf of liz. [applause] i want to say theres a hopeful note here, please adjust microphones to your mouth level and speakdirectly into it, thank you. Okay. Heres the category, i know a Little Something about. The finalist for best female narrator are. All the lost things by michelle sachs. Narrated by cassandra morris. The boards by tammy holmes, mynarrated by hillary huber. Nothing to see here by kevin wilson , narrated by marin ireland. The 10,000 doors of january, by alex e haro, narrated by january lavoie. I feel a little chokedup. Marin ireland for nothing to see here. [applause] im kind of blown away. Im supremely honored by this. I love this book so much and i feel really at my most useful getting to read these books out loud to other people and this book in particular meant so much to me. Hit swept me off my feet, i fell in love with it completely and the fact it resonates with people means the world to me, im overwhelmed by that and i have to thank ann mitchell at harpercollins. Lishe thought of me and it was a huge gift. Thank you so much. Thank you everybody who listened to the book and listens to audiobooks. Its a real honor. Thank you so much. Now my old job, best male narrator. Nominees are. The dutch house by ann padgett, narrated by tom hanks. Everything is illuminated by Jonathan Safran for, narrated by robert petkoff. Kingdom of the blind narrated by Robert Bathurst. The nickel boys by colson whitehead, narrated by jd jackson. Watership down by richard adams, narrated by peter capaldi. And the audie goes to Robert Bathurst for kingdom of the blind. My name is Robert Bathurst and i like to accept this award, number anyone western mark. Robert cant be here tonight but i know he has really enjoyed the tremendous challenge of having to step in to ralph possums shoes and he was so grateful to be able to continue that tradition so thank you all very much. And now lets take a look at the finalists for audiobook of the year and they are. Angels in america by tony kushner, narrated by Andrew Gardner garfield,nathan lying, susan brown, beth malone , lee pace, Nathan Stewart jared, Bobby Kennedy valley and edie falco. Becoming, written and narrated byMichelle Obama. Charlottes web by eb white, narrated by meryl streep, january lavoie, kirby hayden, macleod andrew, emily rankin, kimberly farr, mark deakins, Lincoln Hawthorne theforecast. The dutch house by and padgett, narrated by tom hanks. The only plane in the sky, and oral history of 9 11 by Garrett M Graff narrated by a full cast with Holter Graham. The testaments sequel to the handmaids tale by margaret atwood. And the audie goes to simon and schuster audio for the only plane in thesky an oral history of 9 11. [applause] thank you so much to the judges for this incredibly humbling with that company. This is a project that has meant so much to me for so many years now as ive been trying to pull together the voices of the 480 americans who we follow through 9 11 morning and night, coasttocoast and i want to thank simon and schuster for believing in this project and my editor josie and elise and tom from simon and schuster who i think i could actually hear toms head explode when i told him i wwanted them to do with this audiobook and then Holter Graham who made this come to life and brought together the hundreds of voices that they did for this and thank you all for helping me share this story with so Many Americans who were not alive for 9 11 and i hear almost every day from people who are learning about 9 11 through this audiobook and learning what it meant to our country through the voices of this story and im very grateful to the judges and the apa for recognizing this story and helping ensure that we never forget what our country lived through that day so thank you. [applause] congratulations. Well, id like to thank you all for having me as your hostthis evening. And until next year, keep your feet on the ground and keep hydrating. Thank you for joining us for the 25th audio awards ceremony. Congratulations to all the finalists and winners. We invite you to go downstairs where winners can receive their award. Youre watching the tv on cspan2, 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books every weekend. Heres program to watch out for. On our Author Interview program after words, abc news chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl gives a behindthescenes look at the trump administration. Also u. S. News and World Reports Kenneth Walsh reports how different president s have handled crisis and its highlights from our monthly viewer calling program in depth featuring recent interviews with five authors. Find more information in your Program Guides or online at booktv. Org. On tv fall in program in that, former advisor donald trump Sebastian Gorka discusses books and offered his thoughts on politics and National Security. Theresa portion of the interview. What does that tell you when theyre allotting people like colin kaepernick, one of the richest sportsmen in america for kneeling when the National Anthem is playing, for disrespecting our flag, disrespecting those who bled and gave their lives forthis nation. Its sad. This is not the dnc, this is the Democrat Party of your forefathers. Its if youre prolife you cant even be part of the democrat platform openly. If youre strong on National Security, if you believe on National Security like John F Kennedy you wouldnt be allowed onto the platform today. Saddening. I hope, i wish we had a massive trouncing of the democrats this year 2020 because its only that type of the crisis that will force them to reassess they have become and perhaps return to their roots as inclusive. I worked for donald trump, i worked for president. He wants to everyone and make sure they are irrespective of their skin color, where they were born, and most shocking of all which the democrats and left in media will never believe, he wants you to thrive, prosper and be safe whether or not you voted for him to read that as it should be with every president. Thats not how it is on the left today and something has to change. To watch the rest of this Program Visit our website, and click on indepth tab or search for sebastian board by using the box at the top of the page. Keep garrett and Jean Ellsworth are with us today courtesy of tom and margaret morris. Mister garrett graduated from harvard in 1963. He has had a 30 year emmy and peabody awardwinning career in Television News and documentary. Jean l work as a phd in social foundations of education from the university of buffalo and has devoted her life to teaching. From elementary school, two prisons