Bassey Ikpi and Nnedi Okorafor are finalists at the US’ Audiobook of the Year 2020, or the Audies 2020, announced on February 3, 2020. Also making the finals are Colson Whitehead and Ta Nehisi Coates.
Since 1996, the Audie Awards has been awarded annually by the American Audio Publishers Association for audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. Some of the awards given relate to types of writing, including abridged and unabridged fiction and non-fiction, and such genres as romance, fantasy and mystery; other awards recognize excellence in different styles of narration and production, such as multi-voiced performance and production values.
The Audies 2020 finalists were announced yesterday with names that might be familiar to those who follow the African literary scene today in Bassey Ikpi and Nnedi Okorafor. The two writers were nominated in the Short Stories/Collections category thus;
Short Stories/Collections
FINALIST TITLES
- Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid, narrated by Julia Whelan, George Newbern, James Daniels, and Dara Rosenberg, published by Brilliance Publishing
- Forward by Veronica Roth, Blake Crouch, N.K. Jemisin, Amor Towles, Paul Tremblay, and Andy Weir, narrated by Evan Rachel Wood, Rosa Salazar, Jason Isaacs, David Harbour, Steven Strait, and Janina Gavankar, published by Brilliance Publishing.
- Full Throttle by Joe Hill, narrated by Zachary Quinto, Wil Wheaton, Kate Mulgrew, Neil Gaiman, Ashleigh Cummings, Joe Hill, Laysla De Oliveira, Nate Corddry, Connor Jessup, Stephen Lang, and George Guidall, published by HarperAudio.
- I’m Telling the Truth But I’m Lying, written and narrated by Bassey Ikpi, published by HarperAudio.
- Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor and Whoopi Goldberg (foreword), narrated by Yetide Badaki, published by Tantor Audio, a division of Recorded Books.
Bassey Ikpi shared her joy at being on the finalist list stating on her twitter, “my book was nominated for an #audieaward! I’ll do all the business stuff in a minute. Before all that, I need to thank Nicki Shelton for being a kind and patient director. I walked in thinking I’d be all Def Poet: I do this! I does this!” Read the whole thread below;
My book was nominated for an #audieaward! I’ll do all the business stuff in a minute.
Before all that, I need to thank Nicki Shelton for being a kind and patient director. I walked in thinking I’d be all Def Poet: I do this! I does this! pic.twitter.com/8soanGIWN7— Bassey Ikpi (@Basseyworld) February 3, 2020
Also making an appearance on this list are The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates in the literary fiction /classics category and The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead in the Best Male Narrator category.
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