Photo:Allen Berezovsky/WireImage; Arturo Holmes/Getty
Allen Berezovsky/WireImage; Arturo Holmes/Getty
Awards show season is in full swing. We have celebrated the Emmys, Golden Globes, Critics Choice and the Oscar nominations have been announced. The race for best actress this year is tough. But today, among the finalists for the 2024 Audies — honoring the best in spoken-word entertainment, including audio books — comes a nomination for one acclaimed performer who last year turned in what many called “the performance of a lifetime.”
Michelle Williamsnarrated the audio version ofBritney Spears' memoir,The Woman in Me.And, in doing so, added a Hollywood lift to what was already one of the hottest books of the year. (It’s now aNew York Timesbestseller, sold more than 1 million copies in the first week of its release and hit No. 1 on Spotify.)
“This book has been a labor of love and all the emotions that come with it,” Spears said in a statement shared with PEOPLE in October. “Reliving everything has been exciting, heart-wrenching, and emotional, to say the least. For those reasons, I will only be reading a small part of my audiobook. I am so grateful to the amazing Michelle Williams for reading the rest of it.”
Williams' delivery went viral when the audiobook came out, with fansjokingabout her giving an “Oscar-worthy” performance,according to Entertainment Weekly. Other popular segments includedher takeon Mariah Carey and Spears’no-nonsense descriptionof Jamie Lynn, her younger sister.
The Audie winners will be announced in a ceremony in Los Angeles on March 4.This year’s nomineesinclude many A-list actors: Lake Bell, Tom Hanks, Alfre Woodard, Patrick Stewart, Felecia Day, Neil Gaiman, Sean Astin, Rosamund Pike, Andrew Rannells, Daisey Ridley, Rita Wilson, Natalie Morales, Ego Nwodim, Daniel Kaluuya, Beau Bridges and Neil Patrick Harris are all nominated.
Sean McManus, president of the Audio Publishers Association, tells PEOPLE exclusively, “Last year, we witnessed the art of human narration through outstanding and diverse audiobook productions, showcasing the talents of Oscar winners like Meryl Streep, profound storytelling from public figures such as Michelle Obama and the literary brilliance of Neil Gaiman. We’re also excited to announce our inaugural APA Choice recognition, a new honor celebrating some of the year’s most compelling titles that became cultural phenomenons, including theThe Woman in Mefrom Britney Spears.”
He adds that in a change reflecting the APA’s commitment to inclusivity and diversity, the Best Male Narrator and Best Female Narrator categories — two of the top awards that recognize the importance of performance in audio storytelling — have been transformed to Best Fiction Narrator and Best Non-Fiction Narrator.
The list of finalists for the 2024 Audie Awards are below.
AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR
All the Sinners Bleed
Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound
Sing a Black Girl’s Song
Surrender
Tom Lake
By Ann Patchett
AUDIO DRAMA
None of This Is True
By Lisa Jewell
Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia
By Josh Azouz
Rising
By Pierce Brown
Star Wars: The Battle of Jedha (The High Republic)
By George Mann
Third Eye
By Felicia Day
Dolly Parton, author of “Behind the Scenes”.Shannon Finney/Getty Images
AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
Behind the Seams
La Finca: Love, Loss, and Laundry on a Tiny Puerto Rican Island
Making It So
A Place for Us
Saved
BEST FICTION NARRATOR
Billie Fulford-Brown forThe Last Lifeboat
By Hazel Gaynor
Ethan Hawke forThe Eyes and the Impossible
By Dave Eggers
Marni Penning forJohanna Porter Is Not Sorry
By Sara Read
Meryl Streep forTom Lake
Eunice Wong forLand of Milk and Honey
By C Pam Zhang
BEST NON-FICTION NARRATOR
Edoardo Ballerini forThe Art Thief
By Michael Finkel
Dion Graham forKing: A Life
By Jonathan Eig
Dion Graham forThe Lost Sons of Omaha
By Joe Sexton
Dion Graham forThe Wager
By David Grann
Michelle Williams forThe Woman in Me
By Britney Spears
source: people.com
