A round of applause for 2024's Audie Award winners

Winner: Audiobook of the Year
Written and narrated by Bono

This memoir by Bono—artist, activist, and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2—is honest and irreverent, intimate and profound. Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he’s lived and the challenges he’s faced. Writing and narrating with candor, self-reflection, and humor, Bono opens the aperture on his life—and the family, friends, and faith that have sustained, challenged, and shaped him.

Winner: Audio Drama
Written by Felicia Day
Performed by Felicia Day, Neil Gaiman, Sean Astin, LilyPichu, London Hughes, Wil Wheaton, Hudson Yang, Danny Pudi, Alan Tudyk, and Christopher Judge

This hilarious fantasy adventure crafted by master storyteller Felicia Day is an epic and captivating audio experience performed by an incredible ensemble cast. Once upon a time, in the magical land of San Francisco, there lived a not-so-ordinary girl named Laurel Pettigrew. She was supposed to be the Chosen One. The plan was simple: She would vanquish the great evil Tybus in an epic battle. But destiny had other ideas...

Winner: Autobiography/Memoir
Written and narrated by Patrick Stewart

The long-awaited memoir from iconic, beloved actor and living legend Sir Patrick Stewart did not disappoint. This revealing portrait of an artist whose astonishing life—from his humble beginnings in Yorkshire, England, to the heights of Hollywood and worldwide acclaim—proves a story as exuberant, definitive, and enduring as the author himself.

Winner: Best Fiction Narrator
Written by Hazel Gaynor
Narrated by Billie Fulford-Brown

Inspired by a remarkable true story, this moving and triumphant novel follows a young teacher as she evacuates children to safety across perilous waters. Alice King is not brave or daring—she’s happiest finding adventure through the safe pages of books. But times of war demand great courage...

Winner: Best Nonfiction Narrator
Written by Jonathan Eig
Narrated by Dion Graham

Combining exhaustive new research with brisk and accessible storytelling to forge the definitive life for our times, this vividly written biography is a revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world—a courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself.

Winner: Business/Personal Development
Written and narrated by Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama's latest audiobook is full of fresh stories, inspiring advice, and hard-won wisdom, all delivered in her signature down-to-earth style. Narrated by the former First Lady herself, this listen is an encouraging rallying cry to all who may feel disheartened by the uncertainties of our current reality.

Winner: Erotica
Written by Avery Flynn
Narrated by Kirsten Leigh and Lance Greenfield

Shy paleontologist Thea Pope just wants to get through her sister’s 1980s-themed monstrosity of a TV reality-show wedding so she can get to her summer field work. The only problem? Her sister has turned into the ultimate bridezilla—all while on location in a place that reeks of sulfur and lost hopes.   

Winner: Español (Spanish Language)
Written by Miguel de Cervantes
Narrated by Israel Elejalde, Pedro Casablanc, Pepe Viyuela, Víctor Clavijo, María Agúndez, Íñigo Álvarez de Lara, Eugenio Barona, Sol de la Barreda, Laura Carrero del Tío, David Carrillo, Raúl García Arrondo, Óscar Goikoetxea, Eugenio Gómez, Rebeca Hernando, Paula Iwasaki, Arturo Lopez, Ariana Martínez, Antonio Martínez Asensio, Íñigo Montero, Juan Ochoa, Pepe Ocio, Javier Portugués “Portu”, Ignacio Rengel, Diego Rousselon, Asier Sola, Charo Soria, Fernando Soto, and Elsa Veiga

Este audiolibro está basado en el texto fijado a partir del examen de todas las ediciones significativas, antiguas y modernas, y con la aplicación de los métodos filológicos más rigurosos. Es una versión dramatizada de la obra, de forma que cada personaje tiene su voz.

Winner: Faith-Based Fiction or Nonfiction
Written by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson
Narrated by MacLeod Andrews

When a remote Peruvian village is reduced to ash in seconds, the Shepherds face a horrific question: Is this the work of a man-made weapon of unthinkable power, or is God raining down judgment from above, as some believe?

Winner: Fantasy
Written by Robert Jordan
Narrated by Rosamund Pike

Rosamund Pike returns for the third installment of the Wheel of Time series, delivering another mesmerizing performance, as Rand al Thor and his companions continue their epic journey.

Winner: Fiction
Written by Ann Patchett
Narrated by Meryl Streep

Ann Patchett once again proved herself one of America’s finest writers in this moving meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart.

Winner: History/Biography
Written by Ann Thwaite, preface by Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Narrated by Simon Vance

Goodbye Christopher Robin is a story of celebrity, a story of both the joys and pains of success, and, ultimately, the story of how one man created a series of enchanting tales that brought hope and comfort to an England ravaged by the First World War.

Winner: Humor
Written and narrated by Leslie Jones

This memoir is roaringly funny, but Leslie Jones’s life is no joke. In her pitch perfect audiobook, she ditches the script and tells each story in her life exactly how it went.

Winner: UK-Produced Audiobook (Judges Category, sponsored by the UK Publishers Association, Audio Publishers Group)
Written by Jojo Moyes
Narrated by Daisy Ridley

A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this novel asks the question: who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes? Full of Jojo Moyes’s signature humor, brilliant storytelling, and warmth, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story about how just one little thing can suddenly change everything.

Winner: Literary Fiction & Classics
Written by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson
Narrated by Audra McDonald

Scholar Emily Wilson, translator of 2017's The Odyssey, returned with an equally revelatory translation of Homer’s other great epic―the most revered war poem of all time. Brought to life in audio form, this crisp verse translation roars with the clamor of arms, the bellowing boasts of victors, the fury and grief of loss, and the anguished cries of dying men.

Winner: Middle Grade
Written by Claire Swinarski
Narrated by Ferdelle Capistrano, Alexandra Hunter, Karla Serrato, Gail Shalan, Reena Dutt, Caitlin Davies, Andrew Eiden, and Kirby Heyborne

In this engrossing and inventive contemporary middle grade novel, an eighth grader uses social media posts, passed notes, and other clues to find out why a formerly popular girl is now the pariah of her new school.

Winner: Multi-Voiced Performance
Written by Erica Bauermeister
Narrated by Barrie Kreinik, Braden Wright, Carol Jacobanis, Cassandra Campbell, Gabra Zackman, George Newbern, Jesse Vilinsky, Max Meyers, Rachel L. Jacobs, and Stephen Graybill

One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. Together, their stories reveal how books can affect us in the most beautiful and unexpected of ways—and how we are all more closely connected to one another than we might think.

Winner: Mystery
Written by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Narrated by Eunice Wong

A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder in the most peculiar way in this captivating mystery starring Vera Wong, a lonely little old lady—ah, lady of a certain age—who lives alone above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Winner: Narration by the Author
Written and narrated by Mary Louise Kelly

The time for do-overs is over. Celebrated NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly is coming to grips with the reality every parent faces: Childhood has a definite expiration date. You have only so many years with your kids before they leave your house to build their own lives.

Winner: Nonfiction
Written by Matthew Desmond
Narrated by Dion Graham

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making an incisive, landmark argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it.

Winner: Original Work
Written by Kate McAll
Performed by Edyta Brychta, Michael Canavan, Shannon Cochran, Arye Gross, Anna Mathias, Alan Shearman, André Sogliuzzo, and Joanne Whalley

As Jews tried to escape Nazi Germany in the 1930s, they faced unthinkable roadblocks in obtaining exit visas. And while they were denied entry in one country after another, a bureaucratic oddity enabled some of them to flee to an unlikely destination: Shanghai, China. In this L.A. Theatre Works original commission, playwright Kate McAll used the survivors’ own words to create a narrative of people starting their lives over in a completely new land.

Winner: Romance
Written by Christina Lauren
Narrated by Jonathan Cole and Cindy Kay

Sparks fly when a romance novelist and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the perfect Hollywood love story and take both of their careers to the next level—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script.

Winner: Science Fiction
Written by Holly Smale
Narrated by Kristin Atherton

Creature of habit Cassandra Penelope Dankworth has just been dumped and fired. That's when something truly unexpected happens: Cassie discovers she can go back and change the past. One small rewind at a time, Cassie attempts to fix the life she accidentally obliterated.

Winner: Short Stories/Collections
Written by Mary Oliver, with contributions by Sophia Bush, Ross Gay, Samin Nosrat, Rainn Wilson, and Susan Cain
Narrated by Sophia Bush

A celebration of the beloved, award-winning poet Mary Oliver, narrated by actress and activist Sophia Bush featuring selections from the late poet’s work, in her own voice, plus a tapestry of complementary voices reflecting on Oliver’s legacy, Wild and Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver is a first-of-its-kind audio commemoration of one of the greatest poets in modern history.

Winner: Thriller/Suspense
Written by S.A. Cosby
Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, quiet Charon has had only two murders. But after years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface.

Winner: Young Adult
Written by Jenny Laden
Narrated by Gail Shalan

In this heartbreaking multimedia debut—filled with drawings, poems, and journal entries—author Jenny Laden draws on her own experience to create a story of grief and transcendence, capturing all the feelings as adolescence and some hard facts collide.

Winner: Young Listeners
Written by Jon Klassen
Narrated by Fairuza Balk and Jon Klassen

In a big abandoned house on a barren hill lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night.