Our list of the most popular titles for March is here!
Are your favourite titles listed? Or perhaps you are looking for some reading inspiration? Click here or on the link below to view our latest top 10.
View the Top 10
Beginning on the 1st May 2025, our membership fee will be increased from £20 to £25 per year for individuals. This decision was carefully considered, as we recognise the financial challenges many members face with rising costs. It's worth noting that our membership fee has not changed since 2009. During this time, we’ve grown our catalogue considerably and we are proud to offer a fantastic selection of audiobooks, along with thousands of newspapers and magazines.
If this change presents any difficulties for you, please feel free to get in touch when your renewal time comes. We’re committed to supporting our members and appreciate your continued support as we strive to provide the best service possible.
And the winner is...Rebecca Yarros for Iron Flame! Click here or on the video below to view the announcement from our patron, Stephen Fry.
Click here or on the button below to find out more about this title.
Borrow
It's a new month and that means another theme for our bookclub! Biographies, Memoirs and More is our theme for March and April. What are your favourites? Let us know on our page. If you aren't yet a member, join today to find out about all the great titles and suggest more for us to add!
Find out more
We were saddened to hear about the death of our former Trustee, Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, who passed away on 20th January 2025. Christopher spent many years as a Trustee for Listening Books, providing much insight, advice and support, following a long career in publishing. He will be greatly missed.
You can read more about Christopher and his life here:
We hope all our members and supporters had a good festive period. Throughout the year we'll be adding more books as usual, bringing you more exclusive author interviews through Virtual Village Hall, as well as revealing the winner of the Members' Choice Award 2024!
Keep checking our website or member emails for more of your favourite Listening Books content.
Our office will be closed from Monday 23rd December at 5pm, until Wednesday 1st January 2025. During this time, our phone lines are unavailable, but please email info@listening-books.org.uk and a member of the team will contact you as soon as possible when we re-open in January. Alternatively, please call back on the 2nd January 2025.
Our online services will be available as usual whilst the office is closed. If you need any help with accessing the service during this time, we have a range of help pages and instructions in the members’ area, in the FAQs on our website, and on our YouTube page.
Wishing you a happy festive period from everyone at Listening Books.
As planned, OverDrive have sunset the OverDrive app and OverDrive Media Console. The final device to complete this process will be the Fire Tablet. Users running Android 9 or higher will see the sunset message and a reminder to download Libby from the 9th December 2024. Sunsetting will be complete for all platforms by 31st January 2025.
To use the service on a phone or tablet, members can use the Libby app. If you need any help to set up Libby, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Our office is closed on Monday 2nd December from 12:30pm for a staff event. Our phone lines are unavailable this afternoon, but please leave a message, or email info@listening-books.org.uk and a member of the team will contact you as soon as possible tomorrow. Alternatively, please call back on the 3rd December. Our online services will be available as usual.
Voting for our Members' Choice Award 2024 is now open. If you are a member, and would like to take part, check our next newsletter for a link to the voting form.
Click here or on the link below to find the nominees for this years award.
Click here to view the nominees
Are you interested in volunteering? We are looking for two new Trustees to support the work of the charity.
If you are strategic, friendly and passionate about access to literature and learning then we would love to hear from you. You will help shape our strategic direction, and be a part of ensuring we are able to continue to support our members to access books.
You can find more information on our pages here.
Find Out More
Interested in joining the Listening Books team?
We are looking for someone to fill the role of Membership and Recruitment Administrator at Listening Books.
If you have proven administration experience, and are interested in joining our small team to help those with a print impairment access books, we'd love to hear from you.
Click here or on the link below to find out more about the role, and find details of how to apply.
Find Out More
Unfortunately there is a widespread technical issue with our audiobook provider. They are aware of the issue and are working to resolve the issue ASAP. You can find updates here: OverDrive Status. Apologies for any inconvenience for our members.
It's the 40th anniversary of Volunteers' Week! Taking place from 3rd - 9th June this year, we wanted to say a huge thank you to all of our volunteers, past and present, who have helped us to deliver our audiobook service, and reach those who can benefit from access to audiobooks. Your help and support is invaluable.
Thank you all!
After many years at 12 Lant street, we are excited to be moving to new premises. Our new address is Listening Books, The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London, SE11 5RR. All other contact details remain unchanged.
As of January 2024, we made the very difficult decision to phase out our CD service. Every effort has been made to contact every user of the CD service to alert them to the changes. The CD service for current members will end in May 2024 and no more CDs will be sent out after this date. Our online service will still be running, providing access to a large catalogue of audiobooks which we will continue to grow, and which can be accessed from a computer, smartphone or tablet. We also offer thousands of newspapers and magazines online in audio.
If you have not yet tried our online service, and would like help getting started, please get in touch with our Membership Team at support@listening-books.org.uk or call 020 7407 9417.
Our staff will be taking a break during the bank holiday weekend, but our online audiobook service is still available 24/7. If you need any help during this time, you can find extensive instructions in your account, as well as on our YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/c/ListeningBooks.
Alternatively, email support@listening-books.org.uk or leave a message on 0207 407 9417 and we'll get back to you as soon as possible next week.
Unfortunately, due to staff sickness we are a little short staffed today. If you cannot get in touch by phone, please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Alternatively, please email support@listening-books.org.uk.
And the winner is.....Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths! Click here or on the link below to view the announcement from our Patron, Stephen Fry.
Click here for the announcement
The Listening Books office will be closed from 3pm on Friday 22nd December 2023 until 2nd January 2024. During this time our phone lines will be unavailable, but you can send an email to our support team and they will respond to you as soon as possible in January.
For those members with access to our online services, including magazines and newspapers through PressReader, these will be available as usual while the office is closed. If you need help accessing our online audiobooks, please get in touch before the 22nd December. You can also find a range of instructions in the Member Dashboard section of your account.
Season's Greetings from everyone at Listening Books!
Email our membership team
The Listening Books office will be closed from 11am today. Please email info@listening-books.org.uk or telephone 02074079417 and leave a message. A member of staff will get back to you as soon as possible on Thursday.
Send an emailIf you missed our live Q+A with Paterson Joseph, the full recording is now available!
Click here or on the video below to view the interview.
This week Jessica talks with award winning actress and narrator Polly Lee.
She talks about some of the books that have stayed with her, including Soman Chainani’s School for Good and Evil series, and the voices she would have done differently if she’d known how the series would play out.
Click here or on the link below to listen.
Listen Now
If you love the book Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, then you need to listen to the latest edition of The Listening Books Podcast!
In conversation with host Jessica Stone, Bonnie tells us about how her career as a copywriter shaped her approach to writing the novel, the one mispronunciation in the audiobook, and why she needed to break some rules to write this story.
Click here or on the link below to listen.
Listen Now
We are very grateful to the Smurfit Kappa Foundation for their generous support which will allow us to grow our audiobook collection by some 600 titles over the next 3 years!
What better way to demonstrate the benefits of using audiobooks through Listening Books, than by hearing from our members. In this short video, our staff, narrators and ambassadors present some of the comments we receive.
Watch Video Here
Join Emily as she chats with Jonathan about his upcoming new book and answers your questions about The Bingo Hall Detectives series, being a writer and any other questions you want to ask him!
This informal session will be perfect for fans of murder mysteries and cosy crime, as well as aspiring writers looking to chat to a seasoned professional.
Our new blog is here!
Listening to audiobooks is a great way for children and adults to read more, and this summer, children can use their membership to take part in the Reading Agency's Summer Reading Challenge.
The challenge, which started in Scotland on Saturday the 24th of June and in England and Wales on Saturday the 8th of July, allows you to set a reading goal for your child, who can receive special badges throughout the challenge, and a certificate upon completion.
This summer the Challenge focuses on the theme “Ready, Set, Read!” and all the books are centred around staying active through games, sports or adventure.
Click here or on the link below for more tips for keeping your child motivated during the challenge.
Read Now
Episode Nine of our podcast is now available. Hear from narrator Gordon Griffin, who in 2017 received an MBE from Queen Elizabeth for his services to audiobooks. He tells us about that experience, how the industry has changed over the years, how he prepares for each audiobook, and what the secret is to being a truly good narrator.
Listen Now
Meet authors Michelle Penn & Anna Fodorova, narrators Lisa Rose, Nigel Pilkington, Saul Reichlin, Farhana Khalique & we hope, Sophie Aldred.
Join Arachne Press for the online launch of three eclectic audiobooks: In the Blood by Anna Fodorova narrated by Lisa Rose, Routes by Rhiya Pau narrated by Farhana Khalique, and Paper Crusade by Michelle Penn narrated by Sophie Aldred, Saul Reichlin and Nigel Pilkington. You'll get a chance to hear from the authors themselves, and their narrators, and to ask questions. Plus, you'll be able to download the audiobooks right after the event, with an exclusive 20% off code.
These books were recorded by our very own Listening Books Productions team!
Find Out More
Thanks to journalist Donna Ferguson for featuring us in her article Listen Up: How To Access Audiobooks For Less Or Even For Free, featured in The Guardian online this week, a comprehensive review of the best places to access audiobooks.
Click on the article title or on the button below to read in full on The Guardian website.
Read Now
We are experiencing a technical issue which is affecting borrowing and listening to books on our website.
We are working hard to get this fixed and do apologise for the inconvenience this is causing for members.
The Libby app is not affected and members can continue to borrow and listen to books. You can find instructional videos on how to download the app on a phone or tablet, and borrow and listen to books, below.
Join Jess as she talks to narrator Annie Aldington who has voiced hundreds of audiobooks, and among them are some of the most popular titles in the Listening Books collection, including novels by Dilly Court, Martina Cole, Katie Price, Aoife Walsh, and Kitty Neale. Here Annie tells us how she happened into audiobook narration, shares her secret tricks for conquering difficult accents, and reveals just how much fun peripheral characters can be.
Listen Now
Are you looking for a rewarding role in a small charity? Then we want to hear from you! We are searching for a Membership Support Assistant to help us deliver our CD service to members.
You can find out more, including a Role Description and Person Specification by clicking here or on the link below.
The closing date for applications is 8th May.
Find Out More
With thousands of titles to choose from, it can sometimes be difficult to know where to start. That's why we create our suggested reading lists to help you. From Sci-Fi novels, to Sports Memoirs and Biographies, our knowledgeable team put together collections of books that might interest you and help you find that next great read.
Click here or on the link below to find out more.
Find Your Next Audiobook
Some of our members have noticed issues when trying to stream a book. OverDrive are aware of the issue and are working on a solution, but in the meantime, clearing your Cache may help. (N.B. This will also clear any saved logins for the browser you use.)
Click on the appropriate link below for more instructions on clearing the cache on your device:
PCs and laptops
Android Chrome
iOS
If you have further questions or need help using the service, please contact our membership support team at support@listening-books.org.uk or on 020 7407 9417.
We are delighted to announce that our next free, interactive author Q&A courtesy of Virtual Village Hall will be with author and journalist Charlie Corbett, writer and narrator of the wonderful 12 Birds to Save Your Life. Join us on the 18th April at 10am to ask Charlie YOUR questions! You can join via the Virtual Village Hall Facebook page.
Borrow the Book
We think so! In this recent Reader's Digest article, Emily, our membership and marketing assistant, puts forward our arguments for why using audiobooks should count as reading.
Reader's Digest Article