The 2025 Audie Award Winners 

It honestly never seemed in doubt that one of the most lauded entertainers of the last 50 years would take home both of these coveted awards for sharing her remarkable life and career in this compelling memoir. From the very first line, her tone is conversational, funny, personable, opinionated, and even relatable. Maybe that’s because her motivation to finally put pen to paper was to “dispel the myths” she has spent a lifetime reading about herself. “I think I’m rather ordinary,” she states in the prologue, but every word after that contradicts that notion (How many of us are EGOTs who also dated a prime minister and directed films?). We can’t think of a better way to enjoy Streisand’s genius, gumption, and gossip than to listen to her confide in us, but if you need more incentive, the 45+-hour audiobook also includes music excerpts and some extra anecdotes not found in any other format. 

The Women is both singular and expansive in focus. Frances “Frankie” McGrath naively joins the Army to follow her brother into Vietnam, knowing little of the world outside Southern California. Julia Whelan adds another Audie to her awards case for expertly navigating Frankie’s character growth from a sheltered woman wearing rose-tinted glasses to a brave and capable Army nurse. 

Warhol superstar and transgender icon Candy Darling was glamour personified, but she was without a real place in the world. Packed with tales of luminaries and gossip and meticulous research, immersive and laced with Candy’s words and her friends’ recollections, Cynthia Carr’s must-read biography is Candy’s long-overdue return to the spotlight. Cabaret legend Justin Vivian Bond was the perfect choice to tell Candy’s story. Find more queer narrators reading queer stories here. 

Travis Baldree continues to give us not only stellar narration but has proven to be the comfort writer we all could use right now. The follow-up to Legends & Lattes is just as cozy and warm as a night spent around the hearth, sharing stories of adventure, and no one could have pulled it off better than the author himself. 

Brimming with high-stakes drama from America’s buried history, Rednecks tells a powerful story of rebellion against oppression in its fictionalized account of a 1920-21 labor dispute between miners and the coal companies they labored for in West Virginia. Actor Ramiz Monsef skillfully performs a number of accents to bring this character-driven tale to life.  It’s a story that is both a century old and blisteringly contemporary: a story of unexpected friendship, heroism in the face of injustice, and the power of love and community against all odds.  

Author and narrator Edward F. O’Keefe is from North Dakota, where Theodore Roosevelt deepened his love of nature and developed a commitment to land conservation. His high school’s mascot is even the “Roughriders”! And he is currently CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation. So, O’Keefe is obviously the perfect person to share new research about the women who played significant roles in Roosevelt’s life and influenced his thinking. Historian Jon Meacham calls O’Keefe’s work “illuminating,” and the audiobook includes some remarkable archival recordings of several members of the Roosevelt family, including the former president himself.

Monsters aren’t the only ones haunting the hills in this total hit from the author of Camp Damascus. André Santana deftly guides us through Hollywood where glitz and glam collide with brutal horror. But Santana isn’t the only one — he’s accompanied by 10 additional narrators (the majority of whom are authors!) to help bring this genre-bending listen to life. 

James garnered rave reviews from the day of its release and went on to be shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and win the National Book Award and Barnes & Noble Book of the Year. Unsurprisingly, it now adds this coveted Audie Award to its growing list of accolades. In this reimagining of the American classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, actor Dominic Hoffman delivers an extraordinary performance that is simultaneously theatrical and intimate. He sounds exactly like you think Huck’s companion, James (not Jim) should sound, even though you probably never thought about that before now. Hoffman doesn’t just read or even perform Percival Everett’s words—he becomes them. As this novel attains “classic” status itself, which it surely will, so, too, should Hoffman’s narration. 

This oral history of June 6, 1944, is most powerful when heard aloud, making this Audie win a tribute of thanks to the real men and women whose courage and sacrifice this audiobook brings back to life. The author and 20+ additional narrators give voice to over 700 D-Day participants, from those who planned the logistics or waded onto the Normandy beaches, to those who descended in parachutes or took care of the walking wounded, and many, many more. It notably includes good representation of long-overlooked women and Black soldiers, as well as actual recordings of Winston Churchill and Presidents Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan. In an ocean of other academic, literary, and cinematic studies of D-Day, this audiobook stands out for its singular focus on the words and memories of those who were there. 

Told in dual, unreliable POVs by one of the darling couples of the audiobook industry, this debut is perfect for anyone obsessed with true crime podcasts and thriller reads. With twists and turns throughout, magnifying the complexities of the untrustworthy antiheroine—narrated by January LaVoy—and the utter confusion from the truth-seeking podcaster—narrated by her in-real-life husband Will Damron—it’s impossible not to get lost in this sprawling web of questions and dubious answers. 

Now Whoopi Goldberg can be known as an EGOTA: winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony, and Audie Award!  At the awards ceremony, she thanked the crowd for making books accessible to her despite her dyslexia: “hearing things read to me is heaven.” She uses her boundless talents and distinctive voice to gift us this beautiful tribute to family and a special mother-daughter relationship. She is one of the lucky ones, who had a happy childhood despite hardships. With grace and gratefulness, she says, “Not everybody gets to walk this earth with folks who let you be exactly who you are and who give you the confidence to become exactly who you want to be. So, I thought I’d share mine with you.” 

After appearing on over a dozen “best of the year” lists (including our own Best Memoirs of 2024), earning an Earphones Award from AudioFile Magazine, (“He delivers every word as if every word is a matter of life and death.”) and numerous other accolades, Hanif Abdurraqib is now an Audie Winner. Music and basketball and great Ohioans are just the start. MacArthur Genius Grant winner Abdurraqib plays with time and memory, intimacy and vulnerability, going away and coming home — and leaves everything on the court. 

Written exclusively for publisher GraphicAudio and produced with a full cast of actors, sound effects, and cinematic music, it’s no wonder Hellboy And The BPRD have taken home the Audie for Original Work. Immerse yourself in this action-packed story as Hellboy and fellow BPRD members take on the Goddess of Manhattan to protect a community of humans that live beneath Manhattan. 

Inés del Castillo and Jakobi Diem (who you might recognize from other Kennedy Ryan audiobooks) lend their vocal talents to this heartfelt romance that digs into numerous emotional touchpoints. AudioFile Magazine says, “Castillo gives a passionate performance emphasizing Soledad’s struggles, strength, and desires, while Diem’s portrayal of Judah showcases his charismatic, loving, and dedicated persona. Listeners will be entranced by Soledad’s journey to self-discovery while taking a second chance on love.” 

If you have been searching for the comforts of a magical library like The Midnight Library, you’ve found the right book. Not only does our MC, Cassie Andrews, have every book lover’s dream job—working in a New York City bookshop—but she ends up in possession of one of the rarest books in existence. Narrator Miranda Raison’s accented lilt swiftly shifts between American, British, and Scottish to deliver a most enjoyable listen—and well-earned Audie—for this debut novel. 

It is nonstop thrills in Lone Wolf, and master narrator Scott Brick is just the man to take us through the story in one piece. AudioFile Magazine correctly points out, “Brick shines in long passages of exposition, setting up the stakes with deft talent, and quickly shifts into periodic high action.” Brick is no stranger to the Audie podium, but that makes this win no less well-deserved. You can discover more of Brick’s impressive catalog of work here.  

This immersive audio dramatization earned an Earphones Award from AudioFile Magazine before capturing the much-deserved Audie. Inspired by the author’s own experiences, this speaks to America’s challenging race relations in the late 1960s after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A cast of 15 actors plus a music ensemble lend their immense talents to this fast-paced, suspenseful, important, and revelatory coming-of-age story. 

It’s no surprise that Saturday Night Live favorite Kate McKinnon impresses as author and narrator of this sweet and saucy tale of three sisters who study under the infamous Millicent Quibb, a mad scientist. Amusing language that’s fun to hear (a street named Mysterium in a town called Antiquarian), dangerous worms, quirky inventions, hilarious footnotes, a frivolous soundtrack, and a companion PDF of silly illustrations make this middle grade romp of madcap adventures a laugh-out-loud prize for all ages.