• By Jamie Stroble
• Posted Wednesday, May 13, 2020

2020 Audie Award Winners

As audiobooks become more and more of a thing, so do the Audie Awards. It’s like the Oscars, but for audiobook performances. There are so many great narrators out there deserving recognition - here are some of our favorite winners from the 2020 Audie Awards. Many of these titles are in our digital app Libby, and all you need to sign in is your library card and PIN. Point of interest: this year’s winners featured two separate audiobooks from a father and a son. Do you know who they are? (The answer’s at the bottom.)

Audiobook of the Year and Best Multi-Voiced Performance
The Only Plane in the Sky: an oral history of 9/11 - by Garrett Graff, full cast recording

Best Narration by Author
With the Fire on High - by Elizabeth Acevedo, read by the author

Best Suspense/Thriller
The Institute - by Stephen King, read by Santino Fontana

Best Fantasy
Ten Thousand Doors of January - by Alix E. Harrow, read by January Lavoy

Best Female Narrator
Nothing to See Here - by Kevin Wilson, read by Marin Ireland

Best Male Narrator
Kingdom of the Blind - by Louise Penny, read by Robert Bathurst

Best Literary Fiction
The Water Dancer - by Ta-Nehisi Coates, read by Joe Morton

Best Business/Personal Development
So You Want to Start a Podcast? - by Kristen Meinzer, read by the author

Best Middle Grade
Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White, full cast recording

Best Short Stories
Full Throttle - by Joe Hill, full cast recording

Best Audio Drama
Angels in America - by Tony Kushner, full cast recording

Best Autobiography/Memoir
Becoming - by Michelle Obama, read by the author

Best Faith-Based Fiction/Nonfiction
How the Light Gets In - by Jolina Petersheim, read by Tavia Gilbert

Best Fiction
City of Girls - by Elizabeth Gilbert, read by Blair Brown

Best Mystery
Chestnut Man - by Soren Sveistrup, read by Peter Noble

Best Romance
Devil’s Daughter - by Lisa Kleypas, read by Mary Jane Wells

Best Young Adult
Hey Kiddo - by Jarrett J. Krosoczka, full cast recording

So, who’s the father/son pair? If you didn’t know, it’s Stephen King and Joe Hill. “Joe Hill” is a pen name King’s son used initially so that he could succeed on his own merit, rather than on the coattails of his famous father. Hill confirmed his identity in 2007, though speculation about his parentage had been feeding the rumor mill for years.