To me, audiobooks will always evoke nostalgic feelings of childhood when I would spend hours listening to a loved one tell me a story. These days, perhaps I am out running errands or cooking dinner – instead of sitting in a twin-sized bed surrounded by stuffed animals and the glow of my favourite night light – as I listen, but the feeling remains. There is, and always will be, something inimitable about listening to a really good story.
Writers in Canada have such powerful and varied stories to tell, and by presenting them in audio, those stories are given even further dimension. Creating an audiobook is a careful process of matching a story with a spoken voice that will intrigue and delight, in equal measure. We want to find a narrator who is suitable to deliver the story and connects with the material. To do so, we create specific search criteria, including but not limited to gender, age, cultural heritage, and language knowledge. ECW Press has been cultivating this skill since 2015, and as the leading producer of Canadian audiobooks, we have created more that 450 audiobooks to date.
Not only do we produce compelling audiobooks written by Canadian authors, but we bolster them with great Canadian voice talent. In early 2022, ECW published in audio The Education of Augie Merasty, which was originally published in print by the University of Regina Press in 2015. Pairing such a courageous and intimate book with one of the foremost Indigenous actors in Canada, Lorne Cardinal, we were able to give the book the careful compassion and gravitas it so deserved. Lorne selects his projects carefully, and it was a true honour to have his voice at the heart of this audiobook, telling Augie’s story.
We’re dedicated to bringing the best of contemporary Canadian literature in audiobook form to readers around the world. To that end, we shine a light on authors from across Canada, including Prairie authors such as Anne Lazurko, Gail Bowen, and Neil Besner. Whether readers are looking for historical fiction, mystery, non-fiction, memoir, or something else entirely – there is an audiobook for them to enjoy.
And when we are not working on our own audiobooks, we are partnering with other Canadian publishers to help them get their books out in audio form. Recently, we have worked with and produced audiobooks for Fernwood Publishing, Portage & Main Press, University of Manitoba Press, and University of Regina Press, among many others. In doing so, we have worked with studios and voice talent based in Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, and Saskatoon. ECW’s audiobook production work is truly a coast-to-coast operation. We’re really not kidding when we say we have “something for everyone”!
Books have always been a way for us to learn more about ourselves and each other. They bring us to different times and spaces and thrill us with the unfamiliar and unknown. It is one thing to read a book from the page, but it is something else completely to sit down and enjoy the experience of someone telling you a truly unforgettable story.
Cassie Smyth is the Audiobooks Manager at ECW Press, the leading producer of Canadian audiobooks.
