Booksology Audiences focus on the audiobooks themselves, judging each title’s performance, direction, production, and content, but the titles that round out this year’s finalists in several categories lack diversity. There are several categories that do not offer books written by authors of color, including History/Biography (which is also made up entirely of authors who identify as male), Mystery, and Science Fiction. This does not mean that the other categories lack representation or that the performers and production teams are not inclusive. However, it is important to point out that different stories can continue to uplift those with more privilege.
Here are the finalists in several Audi Award categories.
audiobook of the year
- George Orwell’s 1984 Written by George Orwell, adapted by Joe White. Performed by Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott, Tom Hardy, Chukwudi Iwuji, Romesh Ranganathan, Natasia Demetriou, Francesca Mills, Alex Lawther, and Katie Leung. Audible original publication
- my name is barbra Written and narrated by Barbra Streisand. Published by Penguin Random House Audio
- Playground: Novel Written by Richard Powers. Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, Robin Segerman, Eunice Wong, Pan Bandu, Chris Janae, and Kevin R. Free. Spotify audiobook publishing
- poor deer Written by Claire Ossietzky. Narrated by Sophie Amos. Published by HarperAudio
autobiography/memoir
- Farewell Yellow Brick Road Written by Elton John, with a foreword by David Furnish. Narration: Richard Armitage, Vikas Adam, Daniel Henning, Ray Porter, Jesse Einstein, Fred Berman, Edoardo Ballerini, Mark Boyett, Kevin T. Collins, Peter Ganim, Mike Cooper, John Cooper. Lee, Oliver Wyman. Published by Audible Studio
- knife Screenplay and narration by Salman Rushdie. Published by Penguin Random House Audio
- my name is barbra Written and narrated by Barbra Streisand. Published by Penguin Random House Audio
Best Fiction Narration Award
- dominique hoffman james Written by Percival Everett. Published by Penguin Random House Audio
- saskia mahlleveld briar club Written by Kate Quinn. Published by HarperAudio
- Julia Whelan women Written by Kristin Hanna. Published by Macmillan Audio
Best Nonfiction Narration Award
- Justin Vivian Bond candy darling Written by Cynthia Carr. Published by Macmillan Audio
- Peter Noble wide wide sea Written by Hampton Sides. Published by Penguin Random House Audio
- Andia Winslow go home Written by Brittney Greiner and Michelle Burford. Published by Penguin Random House Audio
horror
- angel of indian lake Written by Stephen Graham Jones; narrated by Isabella Starr Lovelan, Barbara Crampton, Angela Goethals, Andrew J. Robinson, and Stephen Graham Jones, along with Stephen King. Published by Simon & Schuster Audio
- bury gay Written by Chuck Tingle; narrated by Andre Santana, with special guests Mara Wilson, CJ Leeds, T. Kingfisher, TJ Clune, Mark Oshiro, Sarah Gary, Georgia Byrd, Liz Keri, Charlie Jane Anders , starring Stephen Graham Jones. Published by Macmillan Audio
- I Was a Teenage Slasher: A Novel Written by Stephen Graham-Jones; narrated by Michael Crouch and Stephen Graham-Jones. Published by Simon & Schuster Audio
- flock Written by Jennifer D. Lyle. Narrated by Crystal Hammond. Published by Blackstone Publishing
young adult
- gorgeous Written and narrated by George M. Johnson. Published by Macmillan Audio
- heir Written by Saba Tahir. Narrated by Vidish Atavare, Esme Lonsdale, Joe Pitts, Marco Young, and Rachel Petradwala. Published by Penguin Random House Audio
- home body Written by Theo Parrish. Narrated by Laurie Botha, Annabelle Baldwin, and George Naylor. Published by HarperAudio
- TJ Crowley’s Real Education: Growing Up on the Red Line Written by Grant Overstake and May Wuthrich. Narration: Dani Martinek, Dion Graham, Tavia Gilbert, Johnny Heller, Kevin R. Free, Shayna Small, Ari Frikos, Michael Crouch, Kirby Hayborn, Graham Halstead, Peter Berkrot, Therese Plummer, Brittany Presley, John Wright, Sheila Brown Kinard; Published by Grain Valley Publishing Company and Blackstone Publishing
Check out the full list of categories and finalists here.
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