This semester, the Center for Children's Books will host several virtual lectures presented by visiting scholars on a variety of topics connected to literacy and youth services. On September 17, Matthew Rubery will lead a talk about the technical and narrative potential of book audio for children.
Book Audio
Thursday, September 17
Noon - 1 p.m.
Zoom Link: https://ccb.ischool.illinois.edu/ss/
Audiobooks do more than reproduce printed books. Although the audiobook's reliance on sound is sometimes perceived as a liability, there are numerous instances in which the addition of sound effects might be said to enhance the reading experience. This presentation examines recordings that take advantage of the audiobook's affordances to go beyond simply replicating print. Drawing on sources ranging from children's books to celebrity memoirs, it takes up the question: What happens when publishers experiment with sound to create "book audio" instead of audiobooks—that is, recordings whose soundtracks go beyond the verbal description of sounds by using actual sounds?
Matthew Rubery is a professor of modern literature at Queen Mary University of London. He is the author of The Untold Story of the Talking Book (2016) and co-editor of Further Reading (2020) for the series Oxford Twenty-first Century Approaches to Literature.
