Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy among narrators of new Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales audio edition

Penguin Random House is marking Beatrix Potter’s birthday today with the unveiling of a new audio edition of Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales, starring narration from by a stellar cast including Olivia Colman, Mandip Gill, and Tom Hardy.

Featuring all 23 of the classic tales that have entertained children across the generations, from Peter Rabbit (narrated by Colman) to Mrs Tiggy-Winkle (narrated by Lily James) and Mr Jeremy Fisher (narrated by David Harewood), the new collection brings each storybook to life in audio with sound effects and music.

The collection will be published on September 17th this year in audio download and on CD.

The complete cast of voices include: Olivia Colman, Richard Armitage, Tom Hardy, Pearl Mackie, David Harewood, James Norton, David Tennant, Suranne Jones, Aisling Bea, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Hugh Bonneville, Lily James, Gemma Whelan, Mandip Gill, Jessie Ware, James Acaster, Jenna Coleman, Joanna Lumley, Will Young, Matt Baker, Robert Webb, Alfred Enoch, and Ben Bailey Smith.

As part of the unveiling, you can even listen to an exclusive extract of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, read by Olivia Colman here.

 Star of Downton Abbey and W1A, and reader of The Tale of Mr. Tod, Hugh Bonneville said: “Reading The Tale of Mr. Todagain after many decades, I was delighted to discover that the animals that Beatrix Potter loved, drew and wrote such entertaining stories about have stood the test of time. Mischievous creatures, family calamities – action packed.”

 Suranne Jones, star of Doctor Foster and Gentleman Jack, and reader of The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck said: “I was so thrilled to be asked to read The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck as I was a huge Beatrix Potter fan as a young girl and my son was gifted the whole Peter Rabbit library when he was born too.

“The night before I went to record the story we all read it together which was incredibly sweet. I’m glad the characters have been committed to audio so many more families can share in their adventures.”

Today, more than two million Beatrix Potter books are sold across the world every year, equating to four books every minute.

 Ygraine Cadlock, editorial director, PRH Children’s Picture Books and Partnerships, said: “The tales of Beatrix Potter are loved by generations of readers around the world. We know how much children have enjoyed listening to the stories over the years, and we’re hugely excited at launching this audio collection with a fantastic cast of new names.

“These narrations bring Beatrix’s much-loved characters to life and are sure to enchant children and families everywhere.”

Penguin Random House partners with Rebellion to bring its science fiction portfolio to the audiobook space

The iconic comic book law-enforcer, Judge Dredd is making his way to the audiobook sector.

Penguin Random House UK has detailed a new partnership between its audio division and the comic book , fiction and video games publisher, Rebellion to produce more science fiction audio for fans.

Under the partnership, Penguin Random House will produce and distribute audio version’s of Rebellion’s latest fiction titles, alongside classic graphic novels from its popular 2000 AD imprint.

According to The Bookseller, Penguin Random House has cited new research from Harris Interactive that has shown science fiction to be one of the leading genres across modern audiobooks, with a share of 30 per cent of audiobook listeners opting for science fiction titles over the past year.

Richard Lennon, audio publisher at PRH, said: “This is a really exciting new partnership which helps us reach even more listeners in this hugely popular and ever-growing section of the audiobook market. We’re looking forward to helping tell some of Rebellion’s incredible stories and to creating some truly groundbreaking recordings, particularly as we explore turning some of British comic book history’s true greats – Judge Dredd, Slaine and Rogue Trooper, to name but a few – into audiobooks for the first time.”

Ben Smith, Rebellion’s head of Film, TV & Publishing, added: “Rebellion is the UK’s leading comic book publisher and home to Hugo and Nebula Award-winning fiction from our Solaris and Abaddon imprints, and as such we’re delighted to partner with Penguin’s forward-looking audio team.

“Their appetite to bring both our fiction and our landmark graphic novels to the audiobook market is tremendously exciting. We can’t wait for the public to listen to the incredible stories in the works.”

Penguin will produce and distribute audio versions of around 30 titles a year from the Rebellion frontlist, which covers genres including science fiction, fantasy and horror, and will include works from authors such as Chuck Wendig, Katherine Addison, Derek Künsken and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

The audiobooks, published from March 2020, will draw on Penguin Random House’s “roster of top narrator talent”. PRH’s audio bestsellers include titles such as The Handmaid’s Tale narrated by Elisabeth Moss, The Secret Commonwealth narrated by Michael Sheen, and Becoming narrated by Michelle Obama.

The partnership will also see PRH record and produce adaptations of five new graphic novels in the 2000 AD series, which will feature multi-voice narration, sound design and original music to bring the stories to life.

Available from Thursday (19th March), the first title to be published under the new partnership will be Chuck Wendig’s apocalyptic epic, Wanderers, read by Dominic Hoffman and Xe Sands.