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Amy Flinders is the Copyright Manager for Listening Books. She has worked for the charity since 2014. Abigail Jaggers spoke to her about what a copyright manager does, how she chooses what audiobooks to buy for the library, and why there aren't audiobook versions of every book.
February 26, 2018
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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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Ladies and Gentlemen, allow my to introduce myself. My name is Josie. I work at Mencap as a receptionist and campaigner. My job means a lot to me because years ago I found it hard to get a job. Now I am involved in interviews, in training and campaigning, so I have many important roles in Mencap.
December 3, 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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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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If you're finding reading difficult, school can be particularly daunting. There always seems to be so many things to read! This is where our Sound Learning service comes in. We record educational audiobooks from ages 7 and up so that at least getting through the reading doesn't have to be difficult. We've collected some of the best back to school audiobooks in our library, so get a head start on listening!
August 23, 2017
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The character was based on the real son of A A Milne, Christopher Robin Milne. However, as he grew up, he started to hate his portrayal in the Winnie the Pooh books and resent his father.
August 21, 2017
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Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a poet, playwright and novelist. She's best know for her debut novel 'The Girl of Ink and Stars' and latest release 'The Island at the End of Everything'. Her books, while perhaps more aimed at children and teens, appeal to adults too, and her debut received multiple awards.
August 7, 2017
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Despite the growing technological panic at the cusp of the twenty-first century, my parents only owned one CD player. It was too big to move from the sitting room, so the audiobook was bought for me as six cassette tapes to listen to in my bedroom. At nine years old, I had already amassed an impressive collection of audiobooks on cassette - I've always struggled to fall asleep and need to be tricked into unconsciousness by distraction from overthinking and worrying. I had Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox and The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me memorised, and had been forced to give up my Thomas the Tank Engine cassette to my sister, who was, in fairness, deserving; she's younger than me and suffers from the same problem sleeping.
June 26, 2017
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It sounds like a cliché, but I've always loved to read. My journey into personhood was guided less by those around me and more by the worlds I inhabited and the people I met on my fictional travels. I wanted to be Matilda for ages. I genuinely thought that if I read more books my brain would become so advanced I’d be able to close my curtains without leaving my bed.
June 23, 2017
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