If i dont give everybody the utmost expect an understanding and compassion are doing that i am not doing right by the book. Its not a movie or a book but has the best of both worlds. Because you have an actual human being giving the story to you and i love that. And the feeling of how that person tells the story. Hearing your novel read aloud transformed into an audiobook is such an honor and a privilege. And where it is finding itself. Its another way to access literature and often times for nontraditional readers. And these are all the reason that 50 percent of americans listen to ann audiobook in 2019s. Here is to all of you. Here is to amazing audiobooks and here is to 25 years of the audie awards. Ladies and gentlemen we are thrilled to introduce the master of ceremonies mr. Mo rock up. And a frequent panelist on npr quiz show wait wait dont tell me. He is also the host of the obituaries podcast. We are here to have him here this evening. Without further ado teethree. [applause] thank you. Thank you. This is a dream for me i have to say. Here i am in this fabulous venue with this crowd and stephen king is here. [cheers and applause] i feel like carrie when she was asked to the prom. [laughter] and to be given the royal treatment. I will be out in about two hours. The 25th anniversary of the audie awards and nothing has been better and 40 that 5000 titles with revenues of 1 billion. [applause] and the High School Cafeteria in the publishing world the audiobook people are sitting at the cool kids table and the others are begging them for lunch many they dont need your pity just something to eat and to include some serious star power, meryl streep is nominated for a audie tonight for reading charlottes web i hear her spider accent is amazing. [laughter] this is super c starstudded tom hanks is in this category,. I am sure tom hanks made it supremely likable. The testaments to the sequel to the handmaids tale. [applause] who else is in that category . Michelle obama . She has a book out . I hope people find it. Meryl streep was so good she has been hired to narrate the sequel. Pet cemetery. [laughter] that makes perfect sense to honor stephen king tonight not only with the steadfast support of audiobooks and then the nightmare we are currently living through something out of a state on the stephen king horror. [laughter] [applause] i know youre asking which nightmare you are referring to this all has a shaking hands with her elbows. How do things turn out . And demi moore is nominated tonight i think its more her and Woody Harrelson rolling around in bed on a pile of cash. And the evil people are just watching and then the real stores one stars not the johnnycomelately trying to hop on the gravy train i am talking real audiobook voices. [cheers and applause] scott brick a. K. A. The master of hydration. And his voice is so handsome i think. Last years male and female narrators eduardo and julia. [applause] i do wonder why theres an asterisk next to simon vances name. He was tested positive for doping but that is what i heard. And audie award winner jill is here. [applause] as is the silky voice january. [applause] my only disappointment is these didnt happen two months ago because then i could say really think this is her month. Thats a bad joke. Hillary huber. [applause] and is also doing the voice of god introductions tonight for for everyone sake i hope she wins. [laughter] because you dont want an angry voice of god. Know you dont. [laughter] you do not want to make me angry. Please reveal yourself so we can worship you. [applause] so while audie awards began 25 years ago the book is back much further the will first work of literature was an audiobook. Im talking of course the iliad as read by homer. W[laughter] they wanted James Earl Jones but he was unavailable. As anyone can tell you his work was intended to be heard, not read. The iliad received raves as to the sequel the odyssey. He had a two poem deal. Go with it. It is whimsical. [laughter] there was a problem. 800 bc there was no such thing as recorded sound. So they actually had to find homer to recite his work life but he was blind and wandering around so you never knew where to find him. And if you did he could be very cranky especially if you poked him to go back. This was not a solid business plan. You can say it was an epic fail. [laughter] the librarians have my back. Fastforward 2785 years to the dawn of the modern audiobook at Simon Schuster the very first title 1985 was a total thrille thriller, how to get your point across in 30 seconds or less by frank milo. They wanted James Earl Jones but he was doing cnn. A decade later came the firstst audio awards among the winners host cbs news sunday morning charles kuralt. I am proud to be on that show and that brings the subject to me. I recorded my own audiobook this year. Thank you very much. [applause] not because of harry potter but i saw him in the original cast when i was 12 and he was superb. And it was a revelatory experience for how many words i have been mispronouncing all my life i thought the word rococo. I thought it was a biopic. I thought the word was posthumous it makes me sound like daffy duck. To be clear i wrote a book of obituaries and i did not know how to pronounce posthumous. [laughter] fortunately i had a terrific producer. [applause] and scott took me by the tongue and help to guide me a Creative Process which is much more nuanced than i realized the form of communication all of its own. Part storytelling, part actin acting, wholly engaging with an audience that is unseen with your voice, your heart and your soul. All while doing your best. Posthumous. And im here to celebrate all of tonights nominees. Mi [applause] at the audie most will be acknowledged by the winner standing at their table for applause lets practice so we will acknowledge winners. All of the judges tonight please stand and be recognized for your hard work. [applause] will all of the final list please stand to be recognize. And with this acknowledgment we heard from audiobook lovers as they voted on social media for their favorite audioblog and the peoples choice recognition goes to Penguin Random house audio for becoming. [applause] the people have spoken so now the first presenters of the evening, the audie nominated author of hey kiddo a finalist and one the odyssey award. His grandfather used to say they would name him oscar his name would try to pronounce his last name. Mo willems right awardwinning books and televisions in place and serves as the Kennedy CenterFirst Education artist in residence. Thanks to him he is yet to be a contestant on wait wait dont tell me. He is fantastic. [applause] nonfiction has been described to write the truth and make it read the fiction and the finalists for nonfiction are. The audiehe goes to grace will lead us home. [applause] also history is written by the winner that has seemed a little unkind to the finalist. American wounded they are rated. The history biography for american moonshine. O. [applause] and the finalist for autobiography memoir ar are, becoming. [applause] the audie goes to Penguin Random house for becoming by michelle obama. [applause] she is shy. Our next presenter is the acclaimed between red rooster harlem markets bmp in newark new jersey and creator of the audible original he was also the youngest person to ever reach. Receive a threestar review and to win multiple james. Foundation awards best chef of new york city season to is out now on pbs. Org. This is the first time im doing this. And we are very excited but the finalist for business and personal development are and the audie goes to harbor audio. Do you want to start a podcast. T [applause] the finalists are. The audie goes to. The finalist are the audie goes to. [applause] next to present his celebrity judge the New York Times bestselling author they both die at the and more happy they are not and history is all you left me. The most recent bestselling book was published this past january. [applause] i like to say i came to the game a little late like 20 years old and then i was emboldened at 19 and that i would have been gay so much sooner. [laughter] like really gay. [laughter] [applause] thankfully to the educators and librarians we have audiobooks for all ages for our young listeners and beginners. And the finalists are. [laughter] the audie for your listener goes to the pigeon has to go to school. [applause] now the finalists are. The audie for middle grade goes to charlottes web. [cheers and applause] it is a very long time to become young and these help us along the way. The finalists for young adult are and the audie for young adult goes to hey kiddo. [applause] the next presenters are a wellwritten pair buying number one New York Times bestselling author Lauren Blakely who can often be found listening to an audiobook usually romance or humor or comedians memoir. Stacy is a jamaican mother, writer, traveling artist and activist and author on the other side of paradise and the original mother struck is a ride or die new yorker who refuses to leave brooklyn. Please welcome them to the stage. Ok [applause] tiny windows into other worlds the finalists for short story collections are and audie goes to. Fiction reveals truth. And transports us. Apparently the president doesnt read fiction. Ly[laughter] fiction is the magic that grabs us just like the final finalists. The audie goes to the water dance. [cheers and applause] a Los Angelesbased actress d multiple award winner and audiophile magazine and the bestselling author of more than two dozen awardwinning books and finalist and a newberry honor winner and a to time caretta scott king award winner please welcome them both to the stage. [laughter] ive listen to this like four times. The finalist for romance are. And the winner is devils daughter. [applause] please stand and be recognized. I have so much work appear. The finalist for fantasy are and the audie goes to the 10000 of january. The finalist for Science Fiction are the audie goes to emergency. [applause] hello. I am ana maria from the apa board of directors and its my pleasure to turn our attention to mr. Stephen king. Four years on before audiobooks were fashionable with the work that all of you do and all that you make it through his support he has expanded theis audience with inspired improvements to audiobooks with that gratitude with a Lifetime Achievement award. [cheers and applause] steve, first i want to say thank you for all the thrilling adventures. And thank you for keeping is a part of your raging imagination and a few years ago winning the audie. I have to tell you all the time and to fill that narrative. I was honored and lucky. [applause] for this difficult and wonderful and treacherous book. And that this teller isnt worth the spark and that applies to narrators as well. And part of human nature. They could go for years that their husband is missing. [laughter] stephen king is a much better place in the world. You will still be read 100 years from now. And how you come up with that. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations mr. King. Congratulations. Nobody deserves a better. With four or five lifetimes. Rock on. [cheers and applause] we will hand it off as exciting as this is. [cheers and applause] its actually a very special treat for the next announcement in case you need reminding the bestselling author and just a few seconds ago one the audie for full throttle which is a longrunning comic book and i am very happy to welcome mr. Joe hill. [applause] ana maria, thank you. To be here tonight to celebrate audiobooks alongside the people who work so hard , so brilliantly to give them to readers everywhere. I had the privilege to present the Lifetime Achievement award to stephen king who we all know was the best ambassador for audiobooks anyone could wish or hope for. His love and contagious enthusiasm goes back decades. I know. I was there. My parents met in the poetry class they could be found in every room and stacked in piles when we sat at dinner the conversation revolved almost entirely around makebelieve people and imaginary rooms and that culinary specialty we would blab about book writers and the moral failings of literary critics. The best part of those days when we were on the couch and pass the book around we took turns reading aloud and in this way we were through the lion the witch and the wardrobe, kipling and the stories that were so pretentious and overwritten they put us into hysterics. Stories were always in the year. Im not telling anything you dont know what i tell you my dad is a glutton for stories. He cannot barely stand going waking hour without picking out one and this dinner must be killing him. [laughter] think of all themu pages he is reading right now. As a kid i never saw him go anywhere without a paperback in hand he read between innings and use the paper to score the game he would read three pages waiting in line to buy movie tickets and three more waiting in line for popcorn. But what was a compulsive bookworm to do with all that time with his hands were not available for turning pages such as making the threehour drive from one end of maine to the other . The answer was to listen to the audiobook and if the kids complained he would trap the volume so he cannot hear them. The audiobooks commercially available were far from satisfactory for a guy like my dad so to keep prices low he had to reduce every novel which required in my dads view the difference of getting a whole meal and getting the greasy wax paper the hamburger came wrapped in he discovered a company that had under bridge readings they didnt have a huge selection but enough and enough is as good as a feast. He would order them steinbec steinbeck, mcdonald. Soon enough he was writing one ordering them who was reading them and then listen to the sheer pleasure of another story read by Frank Mueller. When they couldnt get him a novel he wanted to hear you had better resources, his tildren like all children we had apparitions to work in mercantile our father exploited us to build up his library of audiobooks paying us to read novels on cassette. My starting salary was 12 for 60 minutes although his best reader my sister naomi was a ruthless negotiator and eventually worked him up at 20 per tape. [laughter] he got the audio he wanted and then kids had confidence in their own power to give a story voice. The pleasure he took in the case we made forbu him that made him want better for other audiobook readers. He began to develop novels pushing for complete adaptations he changed expectations of what it could and should be the turns out a lot of other readers wanted that to of course he would work with some of the best for years Frank Mueller would lend the appealing voice to stephen kings words and also hear Frank Mueller reading it back to him in his head. Those were brought to life by the most brilliant readers ever to step to the mic. And for those of you who wonder what it would have been like it is easy enough to satisfy your interest and my mother read the house on maple street. And with that decision to release those in audio first that was a bit best possible way to enjoy them then they were to be told and heard even more than red. Along with a gifted readers bringing audiobooks to life after he suffered a critical brain injury who was left hospitalized without adequate insurance my dad offer the foundation to offer Financial Assistance for those who had the worst sort of injuries and personal calamities. [applause] and then go on to serve many others because my dads need has never been greater. But those to be evangelized tirelessly offering his support to make them possible and hundreds of thousands of people to enjoy the story well told you should us receive Lifetime Achievement award. Give it up for him once again. [cheers and applause] that would make one hell of a murder weapon wouldnt it . [laughter] it is heavy. I will not take up a lot of your time you could be listening to an audiobook. Joe i will get your check to you. [laughter] i was just going to say that still to this day, george used to call himself old gravel cords and he would say in the early days if the cassette fails to play smack it smartly against the palm of your hand. [laughter] if you cannot otherwise free the reels return it to us and you will send on we will send you anotherus cassette. Those were the old days and since then we have come a long way. Audio has come a long way. And i will just say one more esthing. People will say do you read your own books . Thats a ridiculous thing to say i know how they all come out. [laughter] but i listen to them all. The reason why, is because you hear everything you did right and everything you did wrong. It is a most honorable form of storytelling there is because it goes back to the very beginning. I have i love santino fontana, the institute. [applause] and christine in the first acting job was for maximum overdrive movie she was the best part of it. [laughter] thank you very much. I appreciate it. [cheers and applause] im happy to introduce a very good friend and colleague. [applause] president and publisher of mcmillan audio we are thrilled to Beth Anderson from audible a special Achievement Award. [applause] im hoping we will get through this. Im delighted to be a part of the special Achievement Award because that is one of the very first people i met when i joined and it was clear from the start she is very special. At the risk of making a sound ancient, that was before the first the ipod was invented and then to explain downloading and streaming when you can watch peoples eyes rolled back in their head but she could explain it beautifully and was legendary for being firm and hardworking and reliable thats her from the apa board for more than 20 years and you can always count on her to raise her hand to help with whatever needed being done. For the year she has devoted countless hours delving into the thorniest of issues graciously taking on thankless tasks and enjoying the consistency of the Research Data of the digital age. Whether the perfect keynote speaker or for the center of fiction she has managed to walk with grace that complicated line that all of us have managed looking out for the employer while safeguarding the interest. But that if you want to kaya