Summer travel is in full swing and your road-tripping K9 wants to listen to a good book. The New Yorker steps up to help you choose the right ones. Writers Gabriella Bennett and Sarah Moss discovered that reading their books aloud had an effect on their writing. A panel of narrators at the LA Times Festival of Books discuss the complexities of their craft while deaf narrator J.J. Jones proves that accessibility in production, expands the future of audio storytelling. In AI news, Chinese voice artist, Shen Anyu, fights to gain control of the rights to his voice while a survey reveals that a percentage of those surveyed prefer AI narration of multi-voice audiobooks. Audiobook execs weigh in on how audiobooks are redefining reading habits. So, plug in and listen to a good book before digital audiobooks go the way of cassette tapes?

Speak like a pirate takes on a whole new meaning on YouTube, where pirated audiobooks, produced using AI, are prolific. AI dominates the news this month featuring ElevenLabs, their ElevenReader, a New York Times report on the AI threat to publishing and the utilization of an AI Assistant to make audiobook suggestions. A bookless bookstore sounds pirated, but this NYC pop-up from Audible is see-worthy. Check it out as well as the idea of immersive reading, 5 traits of an audiobook listener as well as remarkable award winning titles from New Zealand, India and Ukraine. Romance fans will not want to miss the recording of the panel of experts at the LA Times Festival of Books. And imagine a book about a serial killer narrated by a… serial killer!

April showers brought flowers to the winners of the LA Times Festival of Books where a dedicated space was made for audiobook/podcast panels for the first time. A new MIT brain study shows that audiobooks can increase early vocabulary learning. British Airways provides increased in-flight access to audiobooks. A new bill to amend the Digital Library Protection Act is under review in Illinois. Croatian audiobooks narrated in less-represented languages are in demand. The Czech Republic releases a survey of listeners and Romania’s Voxa secures funds for expansion. Will Wheaton talks about his preparation for narration of Stephen King’s The Body and comedian Mark Humphries pokes fun at audiobook bloopers.

In March the audiobook community put on the glitz at the 2026 Audie Awards while a panel at the London Book Fair proposed an end to the “audiobook/not reading” debate. Spotify and Audible continue to roll out new offerings including “charts”, “read-along” and new subscription options. The Washington Post, techbuzz.ai, neowin.net and androidpolice.com weigh in on the pros and cons. Former Wondery exec takes on a slate of programs at Audible, The Spoken Word podcast kicks off a new season, ElevenLabs expands its catalog and AI takes center stage at Parix Audio Day in Madrid. Charge your earbuds to immerse yourself in Shakespeare’s sonnets, an Adjoa Andoh narration of Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi and a jazzy adaptation of the famous O. Henry story, A Retrieved Reformation.