The best audiobook short listens of 2020





SHORT LISTENS

Amazing and rich stories you
can complete in one sitting.

WINNER: Half Light

By Tayari Jones
Performed by Bahni Turpin


Though expansive, epic-length listens always have a place in our hearts, 2020 may have actually broken our brains. So it was with deep gratitude that we welcomed the rise of shorter listens, which moved, entertained, and challenged us while asking a little less of us in return. A great short listen packs a mighty punch, which is exactly what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Wendy Walker, Tom Morello, and Michael Pollan do in genres as varied as literary fiction, suspense, live performance, and nonfiction. But for our winner, Half Light, it's the old one-two that delivers the knockout: the unbeatable combination of Tayari Jones’s lean, powerful story and the exquisite narration of beloved performer Bahni Turpin. A masterpiece in miniature, this short, timely tale looms long in the memory.

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