But it has the best of both worlds. It is a very intimate form because you have an actual human being giving the story to you and i love that i love listening to the audiobook it is sharing the feeling of how that person is telling the story sparing. To be transformed into an audiobook it is an honor and a privilege with that in titled experimentation. And often times the way also let people experience Great Stories you are the reason 50 percent of americans listen to an audiobook 2019. Here is to amazing audiobooks and 25 years of the audie award awards. Ladies and gentlemen we are thrilled to introduce the master of ceremonies mr. Mo rocca he is the author and audiobook narrator of the New York Times bestseller great lives were three living published by Simon Schuster and also the host of the podcast we are excited to have him as our host this evening so without further ad ado, mo rocca. [applause] thank you. This is a dream for me i have to say. Here i am in this fabulous then you and stephen king is here. [cheers and applause] i feel like carrie when she was asked to the prom. [laughter] and given the Royal Treatment they sent a car for me. How nice is that . I will be out and about two hours. It is the 25th anniversary of the audie awards and nothing has been better for the sector of the industry it is growing by leaps and bounds. Seven years of doubledigit growth, 45000 titles last year alone with revenues of over 1 billion. [applause] in the High School Cafeteria that is the publishing world audio book people are sitting at the cool kids table and ebooks money are begging them for lunch money. [laughter] but they dont need your pity they just need something to eat. Tos show how hot audiobooks have become tonights nominees include some student one serious star power meryl streep is nominated for an audie for narrating charlottes web i hear her spider accent is amazing. [laughter] thank you that category is super starstudded tom hanks and the dutch house im not sure that is what its about im sure per on are tom hanks made it supremely likable. It could be the bomber manifesto you say i like him. And then to be nominated for the sequel to the handmaids tale. [applause] that sounds really fun. Who else is in that category . Michelle obama. Thats right. She has a book out . I hope people find it. Meryl streep was so good she has already been narrated to on higher to narrate the sequel, pet cemetery. [laughter] it made perfect sense we are honoring stephen king not only for his audiobooks but also because the nightmare we are currently living through is something out of the stephen king horror. [laughter] [applause] and you can ask which nightmare we are referring to. I have not read the essay end. How do things turn out . [laughter] maybe i will skip that. Demi moore is nominated tonight. When i think of the audiobook publishing world i think of demi moore and Woody Harrelson like an indecent proposal on a pile of cash. They dont get to touch. And then the real audiobook stars not johnnycomelately but real audiobook voices. [applause] back it up Hollywood Scott bric brick. Where is he . The master of hydration. I met him earlier and his voice is so handsome. [laughter] last year male and female narrator are here. [applause] they are both in the narrator hall of fame although i do wonder why there is an next to his name. And her previous the word winner is here. [applause] as will as the silky voice january. [applause] my only disappointment is these awards did not happen two months ago because then we could say. [inaudible] Hillary Huber is nominated. [applause] for best female narrator. Also doing the voice of god introductions tonight so for everyone sake i really hope she wins you dont want the angry voice of god. No you dont. [laughter] you dont want to make me angry. You would not like her when she is angry. Please reveal yourself so we can worship you. [cheers and applause] now while the history of the audie awards quebec 25 years but the audiobook goes back much further their western literature a was an audiobook im talking the iliad as read by homer. [laughter] they wanted James Earl Jones but he was unavailable anybody who took school latin it was intended to be heard, not read the iliad received raves as did the odyssey. He had a two poem deal. Go with that it is whimsical. [laughter] there was a problem 800 bc there was no such thing to record so they actually had to find homer and get him to recite his work life. He was blind and wandering around he could be crabby especially if you poked him to go back or if you ask him to read. Needless to say this was not a Good Business plan in fact you could say it was an epic fail. [laughter] are there any librarians here . You love it. They have my back. Fast forward 7000 years to the dawn of the audiobook Simon Schuster their very first title 1985 was a thriller you all remember how to get your point across in 30 seconds or less they wanted James Earl Jones but he was doing voiceovers for cnn and a decade later the first audie awards the original host of cbs sunday morning charles kuralt. [applause] i am proud to be on that show and that brings the subject to me. [laughter] i recorded my own audiobook this year. Thank you very much. [applause] obituaries i actually requested jim dale because i saw him on the original cast of barnum when i was 12 and he was superb. Signed up doing my own audiobook start to finish for one thing i discovered how many words i have been mispronouncing all my life. [laughter] i thought it was biopic i thought it was posthumous and i wrote a book about obituaries and i do not know how to pronounce posthumous. [laughter] but fortunately i had a terrific producer scott sherritt. [applause] and took me by the tongue to guide me through the Creative Process that is much more nuanced than i realized a form of communication all of its own storytelling and acting fully engaging with an audience unseen with your voice and your heart and your soul all while doing your best. Posthumous. So i am proud to be here to celebrate all of tonights nominees. [applause] and now is find out who one most awards will be acknowledged by the winter the winner standing at their table for applause will all of the judges who are with us please stand and be recognized for your hard wor work. [applause] we could not do any of this without you. Great job now one more practice session will all of tonights finalist please stand and be recognized. [cheers and applause] i get to kick off tonight with a special acknowledgment we heard from audiobook lovers all over the world as they voted on social media for their favorite audiobook as the peoples choice recognition goes to Penguin Random house for becoming. [applause] the people have spoken and now it is my pleasure to introduce the first presenters of the evening. Jared j the nominated author of hey kiddo National BookAward Finalist and one the odyssey award his grandfather used to say they were going to name him oscar mel rights awardwinning books and currently serves as the kennedy senator First Education artist in residence thanks to the rule he has yet to be a contestant on wait wait dont tell me. [applause] nonfiction has been described as trying to write the truth and make it read like fiction they have created a world for us the finalist for nonfiction are. The audie for nonfiction goes to. [applause] it is said that though that do not know history are doomed to repeat it if so how do they know they are repeating it . [laughter] also history is written by the winner but is unkind to the finalist however the finalist the history biography envelope harper audio. [applause] there you go. Congratulations. [applause] the finalist for autobiography the more the audie goes to Penguin Random house for becoming. Michelle obama. [applause] she shy. [laughter] the next presenter the acclaimed chef behind many restaurants worldwide in new jersey and opening in miami creator of the audible original our harlem also the youngest person to ever receive a threestar review from the New York Times and has won multiple awards including as a chef in new york city it is out now to watch online on pbs. Org please welcome to the stage. [applause] thank you great job. Actually just give me a chance im very excited the finalist are the audie goes to if you want to start a podcast. [applause] the finalist for humor is the audie goes to more bedtime stories. [applause] the finalist are the audie goes to how the light hits it. [applause] next to present his celebrity judge the New York Times bestselling author from they both the diethylene and and history is all that you left me. The bestselling book published this past january please welcome to the stage. [applause] good evening thank you for being here today. I came to the gay game a little late about 20 years old because i start reading gave books until i was 19 and emboldened but i can only imagine if i knew that audiobooks existed i would have been gay so much sooner. [laughter] , like, really gay. [laughter] thank you to all the educators and librarians and booksellers we have audiobooks for all ages beginning with young listeners. The finalist are the audie for your listener goes to [applause] moving on up the finalist for middle grade are the audie goes to charlottes web. [cheers and applause] it could take a very long time to become young the finalist help us along the way the finalist for young adults are the audie for young adult those two Lauren Blakely can often be found listening to an audiobook and a comedians memoir. A jamaican mother and traveling artist and activist author of the other side of paradise and crossfire she is a ride or die new yorker who refuses to leave brooklyn. [applause] the finalist for short story collection are [applause] the audie goes to fiction reveals truth the meeting transports us and that the one sadly the president doesnt read fiction. [laughter] these are the final one the following finalist. Audie goes to the water dance. [applause] and labased actress dan founder a multiple audie award winner at two time odyssey award winner and has been inducted into the audible hall of fame jacqueline is the bestselling author of more than two dozen awardwinning books and the fourtime newberry award winner with the naacp image award winner and to time caretta scott king award winner. Please welcome them both to the stage. [applause] we practiced but listening to the water dance or four times. I love that so much. The finalist for romance are and the audie goes to the devils daughter. [applause] please stand and be recognized. Should i say that part . [laughter] i have so much work appear. The finalists are and the audie goes to please stand and be recognized. My turn. The finalist for Science Fiction are the audie goes to emergency. [applause] hello with the apa board of directors and its my pleasure to turn our attention to mr. Stephen king. For years long before audiobooks were fashionable as the champion through his support has aspired improvements to audiobooks and with that coldhearted enthusiasm and gratitude to celebrate stephen king by sharing with him a Lifetime Achievement award. [applause] first of all thank you. And thank you for your major and imagination and artistry. I think about them all the time but a very amazing and difficult and book. I was lucky enough. That is why i should narrate as well. Stephen king will still be read 100 years from now. Congratulations. [cheers and applause] presenting this award. And for jill hill to prevent blood present the actual award the bestselling author and it just a few seconds ago one the audie for full throttle. And the author of walk and key a longrunning comic book. [applause] i am honored to be here tonight to celebrate audiobooks alongside the people who work so hard so brilliantly to bring them to leaders everywhere. For anybody that could wish or hope for. And i was there. I know. But after they married they filled the house with books. Crammed on shells and on piles and the conversation revolved almost around makebelieve people in the world with that culinary specialty and with the hamburger thrown in and publishing and the wellknown moral failings of literary critics. But those came after dinner and that we work through the lion and witch and wardrobe. And it was so pretentious and overrated. And then the still on this dinner must be killing him. When i was a kid at fenway park and waiting in line to buy movie tickets and then to turn the pages going from one end of mean to the other and listening to an audiobook if you complain then turned down the volume. And those that are commercially available. And it is the two cassettes with the most convenient. And between getting a whole meal hamburger fries and coke but then recorded book service to have the unabridged readings. And then to order books by favorite writers not on who wrote them but who was reading them and he fell in love a certain voices and then if you cannot get the novel he wanted to hear he had another resource, his children. Like all children our father exploited our agreed to build up his library of audiobooks paying us to read novels on the cassette the starting salary was 12 about 60 minutes although my sister naomi was a ruthless negotiator as the best reader eventually worked him up 20 per tape. He got the audio that he wanted for the kids have confidence of their own power but the tapes that we made for him and the cassettes he ordered made him better for other audiobook readers. And with complete adaptations but then sweetened his argument and then to have this voice with words and to have the reader back to him in the most brilliant readers and Jessica Patton and others and if you wonder what it would have been like to come out of the king household after dinner when we passed the book around it is easy enough my dad would put his own stories on audio and my mom read the house on maple street. With his decision to release audio at first leaving that was the best possible way to enjoy them something they were meant to be told and heard even more than red. His love for the gifted readers after Frank Mueller suffered a critical brain injury and was hospitalized without adequate insurance my father started the foundation to offer Financial Assistance to performing artist to suffered injuries and personal calamities. [applause] and then to serve many others and then the need has never been greater. And with that audiobook form offering his support to make audiobooks possible and then to discover the joy of a story well told with the Lifetime Achievement audie award please give it up for him once again. [cheers and applause] that would make one hell of a murder weapon, wouldnt it . [laughter] i would not take up a lot of your time you could be listening to another audiobook. [laughter] joe i will get your check to you. [laughter] i was just going to say that still to this day i can still hear him in those early days to say if the cassette fails to play smack it against the palm of your hand. [laughter] if you cannot otherwise read the reels return it to us and we will send you another cassette. And since then we have come a long way. People sometimes ask me to do you read your own books which is a ridiculous thing to say because i how they all come out. [laughter] but i listen to the mall. And for something they did right this is the most honorable form of storytelling that there is because it goes back to the very beginning and the institute did a fantastic job. [applause] that was for the maximum overdrive movie and here is the best part of it. Thank you very much. [cheers and applause] im happy to introduce my very good friend and colleague. [applause] mary beth and i are thrilled to present the special achievement award. I am thrilled to be a part of this award tonight because that was one of the very first people that i met when i joined the audiobook club. And it was clear from the start she is someone very successful in that was before the first ipod was invented. And then superb to explain and download and this is when you can watch peoples eyes roll back in their heads. And then legendary to be stellar and you could always count on her to raise her hand for whatever needed to be done. Over the years she has devoted countless hours and the thankless task and with that Research Data to bring that process to the digital age whether the perfect keynote speaker and managing to walk with grace a complicated line between looking out to the employer also in the interest of the industry. And with the recommendations and to make an event a little more special and having a gold sequins dress and even at the first audie taking an occasional break but we have with us tonight a group of actors who amaze us. This is not an actress but i would argue with her extraordinary loyalty, intelligence, determinn , and uncommon sense of fairness the devoted daughter mom, friend and colleague it would look forward to hearing about the 2020 vision and beyond. As people learn about the special achievement and she will share one of these with you now. And with that profound impact would to be on audible as a friend and advisor. And as part of the early game every industry status quo because audible would like a movement. We went on with the lives of listeners now tens of millions in a single year. Few people of across the world are owed him more lasting sense of gratitude. Please join us to show just how grateful we are for all she is done with the audiobook community. [applause] today was the officially the first day of my retirement and this is great. [applause] thank you very much. Robin, craig, george, and beyond i am honored to follow in their footsteps. And over the past few months letting my mind wander down and in that process i have come to realize how far the audiobook world has become. As stephen hill said yes we were originally abridged but the very first audie that i remember was conducted in a very dim Hotel Basement directly after the last session of aipac. I think there was a cash bar but not much else. This is about 1000 times more glamorous but it was a start. And audiobooks were between three and six