A collection of clips from our 2017 Audio Award winners. Congrats to all!

2017 Audie Award Winners

For readers of&#160;Between Shades of Gray&#160;and All the Light We Cannot See, international bestselling author Ruta Sepetys&#160;returns to WWII in this epic novel that shines a light on one of the war's most devastating&mdash;yet unknown&mdash;tragedies. In 1945, World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia, and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, almost all of them with something to hide.&#160;Among them are&#160;Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the&#160;ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested&#160;with each step closer toward safety. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not&#160;country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival. Told in alternating points of view, and perfect for fans of Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize-winning All the Light We Cannot See, Erik Larson's critically acclaimed #1 New York Times bestseller&#160;Dead Wake, and Elizabeth Wein's Printz Honor Book&#160;Code Name Verity, this masterful work of historical fiction is inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the sinking of the&#160;Wilhelm Gustloff--the greatest maritime disaster in history. As she did in&#160;Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys unearths a shockingly little-known casualty of a gruesome war, and proves that humanity can prevail, even in the darkest of hours.Praise for&#160;Salt to the Sea: "Ruta Sepetys is a master of historical fiction. In Salt to the Sea the hard truths of her herculean research are tempered with effortless, intimate&#160;storytelling, as her warm and human characters&#160;breathe&#160;new life into one of the world's most terrible and neglected tragedies."&#160;&mdash;Elizabeth Wein, New York Times bestselling author of Printz Award Honor Book Code Name Verity &#160; &ldquo;A rich, page-turning story that brings to vivid life a terrifying&mdash;and little-known&mdash;moment in World War II history.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;Steve Sheinkin, author of Newbery Honor and National Book Award finalist Bomb &#160; "Brutal. Beautiful. Honest."&#160;&mdash;Sabaa Tahir,&#160;New York Times&#160;bestselling author of&#160;An Ember in the Ashes&#160; &#160; * "Sepetys excels in shining light on lost chapters of history, and this visceral novel proves a memorable testament to strength and resilience in the face of war and cruelty."&#160;&mdash;Publishers Weekly, starred review &#160;&#160; * "This haunting gem of a novel begs to be remembered, and in turn, it tries to remember the thousands of real people its fictional characters represent. What it asks of us is that their memories, and their stories, not be abandoned to the sea."&#160;&mdash;Booklist,&#160;starred review &#160; * "Artfully told and sensitively crafted, Sepetys&rsquo;s exploration of this little-known piece of history will leave readers weeping."&#160;&mdash;School Library Journal,&#160;starred review "The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn't change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning. Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful."&#160;&mdash;Kirkus "This book includes all the reasons why teens read:&#160; for knowledge, for romance, for amazing and irritating characters.&#160; This novel will break readers&rsquo; hearts and then put them back together a little more whole."&#160;&mdash;VOYA &#160; "Sepetys&rsquo;s...scene-setting is impeccable; the penetrating cold of the journey is palpable, and she excels at conveying the scope of the losses while giving them a human face....[T]his elegiac tale succeeds with impressive research, affecting characters, and keen, often unsettling insights into humans&rsquo; counterposed tendencies toward evil and nobility. Readers will be left to discuss which impulse triumphs here."&#160;&mdash;The Horn Book &#160; Praise for Between Shades of Gray: A&#160;New York Times&#160;Notable Book of 2011 A&#160;Wall Street Journal&#160;Best Children&rsquo;s Book of 2011 A&#160;Publishers Weekly&#160;Best Book of 2011 The iTunes 2011 Rewind Best Teen Novel A&#160;School Library Journal&#160;Best Book of 2011 A&#160;Booklist&#160;Best Book of 2011 A&#160;Kirkus&#160;Best Book of 2011 2012 Indies Choice Young Adult Book of the Year A Carnegie Medal Finalist A William C. Morris Finalist A&#160;New York Times&#160;Bestseller An International Bestseller &#160; &ldquo;Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;The Washington Post * &ldquo;A harrowing page-turner.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;Publishers Weekly, starred review * &ldquo;A gripping story.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;School Library Journal, starred review * &ldquo;Bitterly sad, fluidly written&hellip;Sepetys' flowing prose gently carries readers.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;Kirkus, starred review &#160; * "Beautifully written and deeply felt&hellip;an important book that deserves the widest possible readership.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;Booklist, starred review &ldquo;Stalin deported and murdered millions, but he could not destroy the seeds of memory, compassion, and art that they left behind. From those seeds, Ruta Septeys has crafted a brilliant story of love and survival that will keep their memory alive for generations to come.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling author of&#160;Speak&#160;and&#160;Wintergirls &ldquo;In terrifying detail, Ruta Sepetys re-creates World War II coming of age all too timely today. Between Shades of Gray is a document long overdue.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;Richard Peck, Newbery Award&ndash;winning author of&#160;A Year Down Yonder &ldquo;Between Shades of Gray is a story of astonishing force. I feel grateful for a writer like Ruta Sepetys who bravely tells the hard story of what happens to the innocent when world leaders and their minions choose hate and oppression. Beautiful and unforgettable.&rdquo;&#160;&mdash;Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Newbery Honor&ndash;winning author of&#160;Hitler Youth&#160; Available for purchase at: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0147525438?tag=randohouseinc7911-20">Amazon - Audiobook (CD format)</a><a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=VD9*lkiWNd8&subid=&offerid=239662.1&type=10&tmpid=8432&u1=PRHD39095A662--9780147525437&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.barnesandnoble.com%252Fw%252F%253Fean%253D9780147525437">Barnes & Noble - Audiobook (CD format)</a><a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-2665379-10876509?SID=PRHD39095A662--9780147525437&url=http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9780147525437">Books A Million - Audiobook (CD format)</a><a href="http://www.hudsonbooksellers.com/book/9780399160301?utm_source=prh&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_term=301&utm_content=PRHD39095A662--9780399160301&utm_campaign=9780399160301">Hudson Booksellers</a><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780147525437?aff=PenguinGroupUS">IndieBound - Audiobook (CD format)</a><a href="http://www.powells.com/book/-9780147525437?utm_source=randomhouse&utm_campaign=randomhouse&utm_content=PRHD39095A662--9780147525437">Powell's - Audiobook (CD format)</a><a href="http://goto.target.com/c/128773/81938/2092?subId1=PRHD39095A662--9780399160301&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.target.com%2Fs%3FsearchTerm%3D9780399160301">Target</a><a href="http://linksynergy.walmart.com/fs-bin/click?id=VD9*lkiWNd8&subid=&offerid=183959.1&type=10&tmpid=273&u1=PRHD39095A662--9780147525437&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walmart.com%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-ng.do%3F&RD_PARM2=search_query%3D9780147525437%2526ic%3D16_0%2526Find%3DFind%2526search_constraint%3D3920">Walmart - Audiobook (CD format)</a><a href="https://play.google.com/store/search?q=9780698172623&c=books">Google Play Store</a><a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?term=Salt+to+the+Sea&entity=audiobook&at=11l3IH&ct=PRHD39095A662--9780147525444">iBooks - Audiobook (Downloadable format)</a><a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/link?id=VD9*lkiWNd8&offerid=258185.12829781935712206&type=2&u1=PRHD39095A662--9780698172623&murl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kobobooks.com%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.html%3Fq%3D9780698172623">Kobo</a><a href="http://www.qksrv.net/click-2665379-10273919?url=http://www.audible.com/search?advsearchKeywords=Salt+to+the+Sea+Ruta+Sepetys&source_code=COMA0213WS031709&SID=PRHD39095A662--9780147525444">Audible - Audiobook (Downloadable format)</a><a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-2665379-11117375?SID=PRHD39095A662--9780147525444&url=http://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/9780147525444">audiobooks.com - Audiobook (Downloadable format)</a><a href="http://www.downpour.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=9780147525444">downpour - Audiobook (Downloadable format)</a><a href="http://www.qksrv.net/click-2665379-10273919?SID=PRHD39095A662--9780147525444&url=http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/search/book/Salt+to+the+Sea">eMusic - Audiobook (Downloadable format)</a>

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, read by Jorjeana Marie, Will Damron, Cassandra Morris, Michael Crouch

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER &bull;&#160;The official novelization of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the blockbuster film directed by J. J. Abrams, featuring an 8-page color photo insert of thrilling images from the hit movie. &#160; More than thirty years ago, Star Wars burst onto the big screen and became a cultural phenomenon. Now the next adventures in this blockbuster saga are poised to captivate old and new fans alike&mdash;beginning with the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And alongside the cinematic debut comes the thrilling novel adaptation by New York Times bestselling science fiction master Alan Dean Foster. &#160; Set years after Return of the Jedi, this stunning new action-packed adventure rockets us back into the world of Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Luke Skywalker, while introducing a host of exciting new characters. Darth Vader may have been redeemed and the Emperor vanquished, but peace can be fleeting, and evil does not easily relent. Yet the simple belief in good can still empower ordinary individuals to rise and meet the greatest challenges. &#160; So return to that galaxy far, far away, and prepare yourself for what happens when the Force awakens. . . . Praise for Star Wars: The Force Awakens &#160; &ldquo;Like all the best novelizations, Alan Dean Foster&rsquo;s adaptation of Star Wars: The Force Awakens enriches the movie experience. The novel goes beyond simply giving us insight into the characters&rsquo; thoughts, with plenty of additional scenes painting a broader picture of the galaxy.&rdquo;&mdash;New York Daily News &#160; &ldquo;Fast-moving, atmospheric and raises goose-bumps at just the right moments. [Foster] not only evokes entire onscreen worlds . . . he also gives us glimpses of an even more vast, unseen universe.&rdquo;&mdash;The Washington Post &#160; &ldquo;Was my experience of the film enriched by the book? Yes. No question. Is the novelization worth reading? Yes. . . . Foster has written a book that captures the spirit of the film, while presenting additional information that helps answer some of the questions that linger.&rdquo;&mdash;Coffee with Kenobi Available for purchase at: <a href="http://www.qksrv.net/click-2665379-10273919?url=http://www.audible.com/search?advsearchKeywords=The+Force+Awakens+(Star+Wars)+Alan+Dean+Foster&source_code=COMA0213WS031709&SID=PRHD39095A662--9780399567513">Audible - Audiobook (Downloadable format)</a><a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-2665379-11117375?SID=PRHD39095A662--9780399567513&url=http://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/9780399567513">audiobooks.com - Audiobook (Downloadable format)</a><a href="http://www.downpour.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=9780399567513">downpour - Audiobook (Downloadable format)</a><a href="http://www.qksrv.net/click-2665379-10273919?SID=PRHD39095A662--9780399567513&url=http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/search/book/The+Force+Awakens+(Star+Wars)">eMusic - Audiobook (Downloadable format)</a><a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearch?term=The+Force+Awakens+(Star+Wars)&entity=audiobook&at=11l3IH&ct=PRHD39095A662--9780399567513">iBooks - Audiobook (Downloadable format)</a>

The Force Awakens (Star Wars) by Alan Dean Foster, read by Marc Thompson

&ldquo;Homegoing&#160;is an inspiration.&rdquo; &mdash;Ta-Nehisi Coates&#160; A novel of breathtaking sweep and emotional power that traces three hundred years in Ghana and along the way also becomes a truly great American novel. Extraordinary for its exquisite language, its implacable sorrow, its soaring beauty, and for its monumental portrait of the forces that shape families and nations, Homegoing heralds the arrival of a major new voice in contemporary fiction. &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle&rsquo;s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast&rsquo;s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia&rsquo;s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation. &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Generation after generation, Yaa Gyasi&rsquo;s magisterial first novel sets the fate of the individual against the obliterating movements of time, delivering unforgettable characters whose lives were shaped by historical forces beyond their control. Homegoing is a tremendous reading experience, not to be missed, by an astonishingly gifted young writer. From the Hardcover edition.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, read by Dominic Hoffman

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER &bull; With richly layered characters and a gripping moral dilemma that will lead readers to question everything they know about privilege, power, and race, Small Great Things is the stunning new page-turner from&#160;Jodi Picoult. &ldquo;[Picoult] offers a thought-provoking examination of racism in America today, both overt and subtle. Her many readers will find much to discuss in the pages of this topical, moving book.&rdquo;&mdash;Booklist (starred review) Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years&rsquo; experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she&rsquo;s been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don&rsquo;t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene? Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy&rsquo;s counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family&mdash;especially her teenage son&mdash;as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other&rsquo;s trust, and come to see that what they&rsquo;ve been taught their whole lives about others&mdash;and themselves&mdash;might be wrong. With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion&mdash;and doesn&rsquo;t offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game. Praise for Small Great Things &ldquo;Small Great Things is the most important novel Jodi Picoult has ever written. . . . It will challenge her readers . . . [and] expand our cultural conversation about race and prejudice.&rdquo;&mdash;The Washington Post &ldquo;A novel that puts its finger on the very pulse of the nation that we live in today . . . a fantastic read from beginning to end, as can always be expected from Picoult, this novel maintains a steady, page-turning pace that makes it hard for readers to put down.&rdquo;&mdash;San Francisco Book Review &ldquo;A gripping courtroom drama . . . Given the current political climate it is quite prescient and worthwhile. . . . This is a writer who understands her characters inside and out.&rdquo;&mdash;Roxane Gay, The New York Times Book Review &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t put it down. Her best yet!&rdquo;&mdash;New York Times&#160;bestselling author Alice Hoffman &ldquo;A compelling, can&rsquo;t-put-it-down drama with a trademark [Jodi] Picoult twist.&rdquo;&mdash;Good Housekeeping &ldquo;It&rsquo;s Jodi Picoult, the prime provider of literary soul food. This riveting drama is sure to be supremely satisfying and a bravely thought-provoking tale on the dangers of prejudice.&rdquo;&mdash;Redbook &ldquo;Jodi Picoult is never afraid to take on hot topics, and in&#160;Small Great Things, she tackles race and discrimination in a way that will grab hold of you and refuse to let you go. . . . This page-turner is perfect for book clubs.&rdquo;&mdash;Popsugar&#160;

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, read by Audra McDonald, Cassandra Campbell, Ari Fliakos

"My book, READING WITH PATRICK, is about a student of mine named Patrick, and this remarkable literary and intellectual awakening we experienced together in a county jail in Arkansas. He was a student in my class who was incredibly bright, really quiet, and just had trouble coming to school. I really encouraged him to come to school to write and to read and we had this incredible year together where he improved incredibly. Three years after this, I’ve left Arkansas—it’s a place where a lot of people leave—I agonize about it, I decide to go to law school. My parents are like, “what the heck are you doing in Arkansas?” Three years later, I’m in law school and I find out from a friend that Patrick had gotten into a fight and killed someone. I was totally devastated. I was shocked. I went back to Arkansas to visit him in county jail and I discovered that his reading skills had regressed. They were worse when I first met him in the eighth grade, and it’s because he had dropped out of school the year after I left the Delta. The heart of the book is really about us reading together in jail for seven months while we’re waiting for his trial, and about the incredible agility and the power of reading together and writing together. And it’s also about me grappling with my own failures and trying to think about the legacy of racism and poverty in the Mississippi Delta."

S2 E62: Michelle Kuo, Author of Reading with Patrick

"What inspired me to write MEDITATE WITH ME: A Step-by-Step Mindfulness Journey was I wanted kids to have a way to slow down. I wanted to give kids a beloved book that they could connect to, that they could interact with, practices that were easy for them, a way to feel their breath in their body, a way to slow down when they need it, and a way to really calm themselves…a way to sort of start practicing self-soothing techniques that they’ll really need throughout their entire lives."

S2 E63: Mariam Gates, Author of Meditate With Me

"I was inspired to write this book, UNLEASHING THE INNOVATORS, because I love big companies, I worked in one for 25 years, and in my consulting practice, company after company I meet is struggling with culture change, and revitalization, and growth, and energy, and risk and dealing with fear of failure. And many of them were using startups to try to kind of put new energy into the company. And yet, I didn’t think there was a playbook for that."

S2 E65: Jim Stengel, Author of Unleashing the Innovators

"My book THE FOUR TENDENCIES is about a personality framework that I’ve identified called the Four Tendencies that divides all of humanity into four types: Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, and Rebel. I got my first insight into this framework when I had lunch with a friend and she said something that got me obsessed with this question of personality types. She said, 'I know I would be happier if I would go running, and when I was in high school I was on the track team and I never missed track practice, so why can’t I go running now?' And I thought, 'Well, why? It’s the same person, the same behavior, at that time it was effortless but now she can’t do it. What’s going on?' My determination to figure out the answer to that question, in the end, led me to write a whole book, called THE FOUR TENDENCIES."

S2 E66: Gretchen Rubin, Author of The Four Tendencies

"I think that I realized there were a lot of stories and ideas that didn’t really make sense to talk about on stage in a stand-up context because they were just too embarrassing, or not funny enough, or just too personal, and I couldn’t figure out a way to perform them live. And so I started writing them down and they just sat in this document, and I just hoped one day I’d get brave enough to do it or smart enough to figure out how to do them on stage, and I just couldn’t. People kept suggesting I write a book and I always just felt like, 'Oh God, that’s something you do when you have a long life.' I just didn’t feel like I had enough to offer, and then I thought, “Oh, maybe I should do all those stories that I've never figured out how to tell on stage. Maybe they’re a book.' And I started looking at them and I was like, “Wow this stuff’s embarrassing, I’m never gonna be able to say this in front of people.' So I just gave up on that ever happening and I started turning it into a book.  And then to get through it I had to get an intention together, I had to get a mantra together and I was like, 'Okay, I’m gonna write the book that I wish had been available to me when I was 18. I wanna write a bible for people who want to grow and feel better about their awful choices.'"

S2 E70: Whitney Cummings, Author of I'm Fine...and Other Lies

"My book, SO MUCH I WANT TO TELL YOU: Letters to My Little Sister, is a collection of essays and lessons that I’ve learned over the past decade since her suicide in 2007."

S2 E72: Anna Akana, Author of So Much I Want to Tell You

"I had been working in the single-mom space through my blog and podcast, and speaking and media engagements, for more than five years. I was raised by a single mom, I became a single mom, and I had a lot of initial shame around being a single mom. And, you know what? It happens to suit me really well. And I found myself relaxing into this time that I’m in and finding all these women—there’s ten million single moms in our country, millions worldwide, and these women have nothing to be ashamed about. I’m meeting incredible women every day that are doing incredible things—in business, in their communities, with their families—and I wanted to reach out to them. And I wanted to inspire the women that aren’t quite there yet."

S2 E75: Emma Johnson, Author of The Kickass Single Mom

"I wrote this book, AN AMERICAN FAMILY, to tell the story of my family’s immigration to the United States. But behind all this, the American values that inspired me to decide to come to the United States and then make it a home."

S2 E76: Khizr Khan, Author of American Family

"PLAYING WITH FIRE is set in the 1968 presidential campaign, but the book is about nothing less than life and death, because that's what was at stake in the 1968 presidential campaign."

S2 E78: Lawrence O'Donnell, Author of Playing With Fire

"In this New Year, you might want to try meditation. Some of you may have wondered about the benefits, stress reduction, lowering of anxiety, helping you cope more efficiently, be less frustrated, less addicted in your behavior. The most important thing from the beginning is not to turn it into another self-improvement project. Meditation can be useful if you don’t expect too much from it. So let me guide you a little bit into the way I think about it."

S3 E01: Mark Epstein, Author of Advice Not Given

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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, read by Dominic Hoffman

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