The holidays are a busy time that can interrupt our audiobook listening. Use the new Spotify AI recap feature to reload your memory. Spotify has also been busy expanding into new regions and released Wrapped, a compilation of listener data. Audiobooks are credited with helping children learn to read. SOVAS award nominees are announced and Louise Brealey speaks about her efforts in accent work that earned her a spot on the Speakies shortlist. Voices, including Kristen Bell, Brian Cox and others are resurrected to their surprise by Fox News Audio and Judy Garland returns for the ElevenLabs The Wonderful Wizard of Oz project. In an AI dense month of articles, ElevenLabs is again in the news with star studded licensing deals, and Spines gets into the cloning business. If you’re traveling this holiday season, you might just find an audiobook link under your pillow.

This month, as leaves magically blanket the earth with color, Harry Potter fans are cozying up to the new Audible full-cast release. And yet, there is other news. Tami Simon remains with Sounds True after Macmillan acquisition. Narrator and educator Elizabeth Wiley passes the torch to her students. Audible captures live theatre in audiobook format. Librarians are frustrated with licensing. And in regional news; an audiobook summary app in Somalia, angel investors show support for UK-based startup Xigxag, NYU collaborates to offer publisher training in Sharjah, UAE and audiobooks have surpassed ebooks in the Mexican market.

This month highlights Indigenous and African storytelling, a new British awards program, a John Waters collection, a PW interview with Podium’s Victoria Gerken and another with author Olivia Dade. The LA Times speaks to a host of narrators about competition, casting, commitment and compensation. A Frankfurt white paper identifies the benefits and challenges of using AI tools in audiobook production. Storytel announces new features, the Frankfurt Book Fair promises new opportunities and Audible reports on regional differences in genre preferences. If you’re in Sydney, AUS… check out the spicy romance menu at Wingboy!

September welcomes a new venture for former Findaway executives, Storytel charts a new course, Audible expands into Mexico and an expanded catalogue of Arabic language books go digital. Spotify partners with TikTok, Google Play partners with FGV Editora in the academic market and ElevenReader launches direct sales. Superman’s Kingdom Come and Truly, super man Lionel Richie’s memoir narrated by Blair Underwood, release in the coming months. Explore audio’s role in memory trust and ROI and more.

The August news might inspire you to speed up your audiobook playback to finish listening to your summertime road trip reads, but not so fast as to miss the rhetoric and brain-boosting powers of the spoken word. This month Amazon restructures its audiobook and podcast divisions, Spotify tests new markets worldwide, Bowker partners with John Marshall Media while Mexico awaits its audiobook boom. Julia Whelan speaks out for narrators, Audible announces a new Harry Potter series with a star-studded full cast, and Paul Giamatti reaches a new audience with Billy Budd, Sailor.