Spotify Audiobooks, the streaming giant's in-house audiobook publishing imprint, has partnered with W.W. Norton to produce and launch the audiobook for Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Richard Powers's upcoming novel, Playground, to be published on September 24.
The audiobook production features a cast of six narrators: Edoardo Ballerini, Pun Bandhu, Kevin R. Free, Krys Janae, Robin Siegerman, and Eunice Wong. This ensemble approach, Spotify said, aims to bring depth and dimension to Powers's novel, which PW described in its review as "an epic drama of AI, neocolonialism, and oceanography."
The partnership marks another significant step in Spotify's efforts to expand its audiobook offerings. The company committed to in-house audiobook production following its acquisition of Findaway and its in-house audiobook production company OrangeSky Audio in November 2021. Last fall, OrangeSky Audio was rebranded as Spotify Audiobooks, integrating members from both the OrangeSky Audio and Findaway teams.
Since the rebranding, a Spotify representative told PW, the division has produced 10–15 audiobooks a month, and its audiobook catalog now includes roughly 1,000 titles. Some recent productions include audiobooks of The Townsend Family Recipe for Disaster by Shauna Robinson and Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman. The division is also beginning to produce it own audio-first content with the upcoming novella Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood, scheduled for release in October.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misattributed comments from a Spotify spokesperson to VP of business affairs and audiobooks business David Kaefer, whose name was misspelled.
