Each year the Audio Publishers Association honors the best titles in audio publishing at a gala awards ceremony. This year Children of Blood and Bone was named Audiobook of the Year at the 2019 Audie Awards.
The Audio Publishers Association (APA), the premiere trade organization of audiobooks and spoken word entertainment, announces today the winners of last night’s annual awards gala, The Audie Awards. The event was hosted by Queer Eye fashion expert, upcoming memoirist and audiobook narrator, Tan France, who lent his charming personality and delightful wit to the evening’s festivities. The Audies recognizes outstanding achievement from the authors, narrators, publishers, and producers of the most talked-about audiobooks in the industry. This year’s most prestigious award, Audiobook of the Year, has been named Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone, published by Macmillan Audio.
Recognized by the esteemed judging panel of Ron Charles (Book Critic for The Washington Post), Linda Holmes (Host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour), and Lisa Lucas (Executive Director of the National Book Foundation), the Audiobook of the Year acknowledges the work that, through quality and influence, has caught the attention of the industry’s most important thought leaders.
The panel praised Adeyemi’s work and Bahni Turpin’s captivating narration. “There’s something magical about the timbre of Turpin’s voice that’s perfectly tuned to the fantastical nature of this novel. I felt transported into the world of “Children of Blood and Bone,” said Ron Charles. “Turpin’s superb accents allow us to visualize each character distinctly. Her dramatic pacing builds suspense and then explodes in moments of crisis. When she cries out in agony or despair, I pretty much stopped breathing. This is world-building entirely through the spoken word and the audiobook succeeds on the power of Turpin’s dramatic performance.”
Following in the footsteps of other Hollywood notables, taking the Humor category are actors, authors and narrators, Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, for their hilarious The Greatest Love Story Ever Told. Stanley Tucci also walked away with an Audie Award as part of the cast for Audible’s The Man on the Mountaintop.
Full list of winners…
Audiobook of the Year
Children of Blood and Bone By Tomi Adeyemi
Narrated by Bahni Turpin Macmillan Audio
Audio Drama
The Martian Invasion of Earth
By HG Wells, dramatised by Nicholas Briggs Performed by Richard Armitage and Lucy Briggs-Owen Big Finish Productions
Autobiography/Memoir
Educated
By Tara Westover
Narrated by Julia Whelan Penguin Random House Audio
Best Female Narrator
Educated
By Tara Westover
Narrated by Julia Whelan Penguin Random House Audio
Best Male Narrator
Watchers
By Dean Koontz
Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini Brilliance Publishing
Business/Personal Development
How to Be Heard
Written and narrated by Julian Treasure Blackstone Publishing
Faith-Based Fiction & Non-Fiction
The Man on the Mountaintop
By Susan Trott, adapted by Libby Spurrier
Narrated by Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Clare Corbett, Rachel Atkins, Jeff Harding, and David Thorpe Audible Studios
Fantasy
Spinning Silver
By Naomi Novik
Narrated by Lisa Flanagan Penguin Random House Audio
Fiction
The Tattooist of Auschwitz By Heather Morris
Narrated by Richard Armitage Harper Audio
History/Biography
Darkest Hour
By Anthony McCarten Narrated by John Lee HarperAudio
Humor
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
Written and narrated by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally Penguin Random House Audio
Literary Fiction & Classics
Bleak House
By Charles Dickens
Narrated by Miriam Margolyes Audible Studios
Middle Grade
Sunny
By Jason Reynolds Narrated by Guy Lockard Simon & Schuster Audio
Multi-Voiced Performance
Dreamland Burning
By Jennifer Latham
Narrated by Pyeng Threadgill and Luke Slattery Hachette Audio
Mystery
The Punishment She Deserves By Elizabeth George
Narrated by Simon Vance Penguin Random House Audio
Narration by Author or Authors
The Secret of Nightingale Wood By Lucy Strange
Narrated by Lucy Strange Scholastic Audio
Non-Fiction
The Perfectionists
Written and narrated by Simon Winchester HarperAudio
Original Work
Spin
By Harvey Edelman and Neil Fishman, adapted for audio by David B. Coe
Narrated by Jim Dale, Barrett Leddy, Lisa Livesay, Nicola Barber, Khristine Hvam, Nick Sullivan, John Brady, and Johnny Heller
HarperAudio
Romance
His Viking Bride
By Olivia Norem
Narrated by Greg Patmore Olivia Norem
Science Fiction
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase
By Eoin Colfer and Douglas Adams
Narrated by John Lloyd, Simon Jones, Geoff McGivern, Mark Wing-Davey, Sandra Dickinson, Susan Sheridan, Samantha Béart, Toby Longworth, Andy Secombe, Mitch Benn, Jane Horrocks, Ed Byrne, Jon Culshaw, Jim Broadbent, Professor Stephen Hawking, Lenny Henry, Tom Alexander, Philip Pope, Theo Maggs, Phillipe Bosher, and John Marsh
Penguin Random House UK Audio
Short Stories/Collections
Heads of the Colored People
By Nafissa Thompson-Spires
Narrated by Adenrele Ojo
HighBridge Audio, a division of Recorded Books
Thriller/Suspense
Crimson Lake
By Candice Fox
Narrated by Euan Morton Macmillan Audio
Young Adult
Sadie
By Courtney Summers
Narrated by Dan Bittner, Rebecca Soler, Gabra Zackman, and Fred Berman Macmillan Audio
Young Listeners
Before She Was Harriet
By Lesa Cline-Ransome
Narrated by SiSi Aisha Johnson, January LaVoy, Lisa Renee Pitts, and Bahni Turpin Live Oak Media
Additional information can be found online at www.theaudies.com
ABOUT THE AUDIE AWARDS®
The Audie Awards® is the premier awards program in the United States recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. Publishers and rights holders enter titles in various categories for recognition of achievement. Finalists are selected, and from that group of finalists one winner is awarded. The Audie Awards® is a registered trademark of the Audio Publishers Association.
ABOUT THE APA
The Audio Publishers Association (APA) is a not-for-profit trade organization whose primary goals are to promote awareness of the audiobook industry, gather and disseminate industry statistics, encourage
Full set of photos from the event including presenters: Ron Charles, Lisa Lucas, Linda Holmes, Patton
Oswalt, LeVar Burton, Euan Morton and Julianna Zobrist, can be found here.
high production standards and represent the interests of audiobook publishers. Since 1986, the APA has worked to bring audio publishers together to increase interest in audiobooks.
