The winners of the 2024 Audie Awards were announced Monday night at a ceremony in Los Angeles, with Bono, Patrick Stewart, and Michelle Obama among the recipients of the annual prizes for audiobooks.
U2 frontman Bono won the audiobook of the year award for his narration of Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, a memoir told through reflections on songs he wrote for the iconic Irish rock band. Dan Zitt of Penguin Random House Audio accepted the award on his behalf, saying, “I want to start by thanking Bono, because what a great life he’s had,” to laughter from the audience.
Patrick Stewart won the autobiography/memoir prize for his book Making It So; the title is a nod to his catchphrase from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Obama received the award for business/personal development for The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, the audiobook for which she won her second Grammy Award last month.
The fiction prize went to the audiobook edition of Tom Lake, written by Ann Patchett and narrated by Meryl Streep, while the nonfiction award was given to Poverty, by America, written by Matthew Desmond and narrated by Dion Graham. Graham also won best nonfiction narrator for King: A Life, written by Jonathan Eig.
Saturday Night Live alum Leslie Jones took home the award for humor for her memoir,Leslie F*cking Jones, while Fairuza Balk and Jon Klassen won in the young listeners category for the audiobook version of The Skull, Klassen’s fantasy book for children, which was a Kirkus Prize finalist last year.
The Audies, presented by the Audio Publishers Association, were first awarded in 1996. A full list of winners is available at the APA website.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
