Listening Library, the children's imprint of Random House Audio, has announced its acquisition of North American audio publishing rights to the fifth Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The unabridged audiobook will be released on both cassette and CD in the U.S. and Canada on Saturday, June 21, 2003, simultaneously with the hardcover book publication by Scholastic. Production details are still being finalized.
Listening Library has published the audio editions of the first four Harry Potter titles, beginning with the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 1999. To date, the four previous Harry audiobooks boast nearly three million copies in print (all formats), a figure that makes the series the most successful in the history of children's audiobook publishing.