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Nicholas de Garis is the Audio Producer for Listening Books. He works in our in-house recording studios making educational audiobooks for our Sound Learning service. Abigail Jaggers spoke to him about what an Audio Producer does, what's involved in editing an audiobook, and his dream audiobook to record.
January 22, 2018
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Artist Sam Winston spent a number of weeks living in his studio, drawing in complete darkness. From this experience he has created a new immersive exhibition called Darkness Visible, with the aim of everyone experiencing the creative power of darkness. In this guest blog, he tells us about how the experience affected him.
November 27, 2017
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November 2017 marks 100 years since the Battle of Passchendaele ended. To commemorate this we recommend a list of First World War books, from must-reads to forgotten classics.
November 6, 2017
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It's that time of year again! The time when everything is pumpkin flavoured, toilet paper finds other uses, and cobwebs are decoration rather than laziness. Halloween is a great excuse to dress up in spooky costumes and have fun with friends. If you're planning on trick-or-treating this year, then here are seven Halloween costume ideas from books!
October 30, 2017
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For every heart-breaking novel or laugh-out-loud comedy, there are stories that scare us silly. They are the ones that stay with us, or that we scare our friends with. No matter how many times we read them, they frighten us over and over again. So why do we like scary stories so much?
October 23, 2017
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Audiobooks about mental health can help everyone understand the affect mental illness has on daily life. Here are 13 of the best.
October 9, 2017
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This year, the UK is celebrating Banned Books Week to highlight the history of censorship. One of the most famous examples is Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence. The book was famously banned in the UK because of its explicit content. In 1960, Penguin Books won a court case to publish it due to the 'Obscene Publications Act'. This act said that any book considered obscene but with "redeeming social merit" could be published. After six days, the jury found the book was not obscene. It sold out across the UK on the first day of publication, with 200,000 copies bought. Almost 60 years on, this is considered a landmark case that represented the end of an era.
September 25, 2017
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The story concerns warring families in the fictional land of Westeros. They compete to be the ruler of the seven kingdoms and sit on the Iron Throne against a backdrop of dragons, zombies and giant direwolves. But how do you decide what books to read after Game of Thrones? Whether you relate more to the conniving Cersei Lannister, headstrong Arya Stark, or mother of dragons Daenerys Targaryen, here are books to read based on each family to tide you over until the next series.
September 18, 2017
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The summer holidays might be over, but that doesn't mean you can't find the time to relax with an audiobook! We've got some brilliant new titles that we'll be adding to the library over the next few weeks. Here's a selection of the autumn listening we've got in store...
September 8, 2017
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There are many reasons why some people think audiobooks might not be for them. I know, because I used to be one of those people. I thought my tiny attention span wouldn't be able to tolerate listening to the same person read for ten hours. Or I thought that it might not feel like I'd really 'read' a book. I now hang my head in shame and admit how wrong I was. All I needed was a great first audiobook.
September 4, 2017
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