Olivia's Picks

When They Call You a Terrorist

A Black Lives Matter Memoir

By: Patrisse Cullors & asha bandele
Narrated by: Angela Davis & Patrisse Cullors
Length: 6 hours 12 minutes

"Narrating her own work, Patrisse Khan-Cullors shares the salient moments of her life that led her to become a founder of Black Lives Matter...pain, frustration, and joy [emblazon] each word she utters." — AudioFile Magazine

This program is read by Patrisse Cullors and includes a bonus conversation.

The emotional and powerful story of one of the... Read more

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings

Poems

By: Joy Harjo
Narrated by: Joy Harjo
Length: 1 hour 53 minutes

A musical, magical, resilient volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United StatesIn these poems, the joys and struggles of the everyday are played against the grinding politics of being human. Beginning in a hotel room in the dark of a distant city, we travel through history and follow the memory of the Trail of Tears from... Read more

The Fire Next Time

By: James Baldwin
Narrated by: Jesse Martin
Length: 2 hours 25 minutes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - The book that galvanized the nation, gave voice to the emerging civil rights movement in the 1960s—and still lights the way to understanding race in America today. - “The finest essay I’ve ever read.” —Ta-Nehisi CoatesAt once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the... Read more

Jazz - Abridged

By: Toni Morrison
Narrated by: Toni Morrison
Length: 3 hours

“One of my favorite books of all time - Toni Morrison is one of the greatest writers to have ever lived in my opinion. Jazz opens by telling the reader everything, and picking the pieces apart throughout the book. Violet is the main character that tries to make sense of tragedy at home and growing older. As the reader we feel sorry for her... Read more

The Bluest Eye

By: Toni Morrison
Narrated by: Toni Morrison
Length: 7 hours 5 minutes

“The literary highlight of my year so far came from a writer I thought I knew well already. I had read (and loved) many of Morrison's novels, but when I learned that she narrates the audio versions of some of her best-known books, I took that chance to catch up with one I'd missed, her debut. And my god, what a debut, and what an experience to... Read more

Beloved

Pulitzer Prize Winner

By: Toni Morrison
Narrated by: Toni Morrison
Length: 12 hours 2 minutes

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A spellbinding novel that transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. With a new afterword by the author. 

This "brutally powerful, mesmerizing story” (People) is an unflinchingly look into the abyss of slavery, from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner.

Sethe... Read more

The Souls of Black Folk

By: W. E. B. Du Bois
Narrated by: Mirron Willis
Length: 8 hours 32 minutes

"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line," writes Du Bois, in one of the most prophetic works in all of American literature.First published in 1903, this collection of fifteen essays dared to describe the racism that prevailed at that time in America—and to demand an end to it. Du Bois' writing draws on his early... Read more

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

Stories from the Harlem Renaissance

By: Zora Neale Hurston
Narrated by: Aunjanue Ellis
Length: 8 hours 57 minutes

“Zora Neale Hurston’s (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Barracoon) body of work continues to grow and impress. In Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick, 21 short stories, including several “lost” pieces depicting the Great Migration to northern cities and Harlem’s educated New Negro middle class, offer an updated perspective of Hurston’s... Read more

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

By: Deesha Philyaw
Narrated by: Janina Edwards
Length: 4 hours 6 minutes

“A slim, sensual, and often sapphic collection of stories about women, relationships, and the church. Whether the tension breaks in laughter or tears, it will keep you neglecting real life in leu of listening. You will fall in love with these women. It's remarkable with Philyaw has accomplished in such a short little book. It's incredible. Read more

The Vanishing Half

A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)

By: Brit Bennett
Narrated by: Shayna Small
Length: 11 hours 33 minutes

“Gripping novel spanning several generations with a sensitively portrayed trans* man in a supporting role and several drag queens. The novel is set in the USA between 1968 and 1986 and deals with racism, classism, sexism and trans* hostility. Read more

A Promised Land

By: Barack Obama
Narrated by: Barack Obama
Length: 29 hours 9 minutes

“No one really needs my blurb to help sell this book, but I wanted to give it anyway, especially for the audiobook, narrated by Barack Obama himself. If you want to know his incredible knowledge and wisdom that guided him through major decisions, and also hear him drop a few F-bombs, you need to listen to this fantastically written book. Read more

Speaking of Summer

By: Kalisha Buckhanon
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
Length: 10 hours 9 minutes

A sister seeks to uncover the truth about her twin’s disappearance in this critically acclaimed novel hailed as “a powerful song about what it means to survive as a woman in America” (Jesmyn Ward, National Book Award winner)

On a cold December evening, Autumn Spencer’s twin sister, Summer, walks to the roof of their shared Harlem brownstone and... Read more

The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

A Novel

By: Colson Whitehead
Narrated by: JD Jackson & Colson Whitehead
Length: 6 hours 45 minutes

“This is the story of boys at a reform school in Florida in the 1960s. Based on the true story of the Dozier School for Boys, and the atrocities that took place there. This isn’t for the faint of heart; the cruelty and violence are terrible. However, Whitehead is a master novelist. The haunting beauty of his prose makes this a must-read. The... Read more