LibriVox celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. From the humble beginnings of a group of friends meeting online to becoming one of the world’s largest producers of free audiobooks, LibriVox volunteers have achieved many milestones in the last two decades. Let’s dive into LibriVox history.
All of the currently 20,648 completed LibriVox titles were chosen by its readers, and countless listeners have chosen their favourites over the years.
One of the most downloaded LibriVox books is The Art of War by Sun Tsu, a book of strategy from Ancient China that has lost none of its appeal.
Equally strategic (and almost as popular) is a world-famous sleuth invented by Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes still define detective fiction (and detectives) to this day.
Fact or fiction? Edward J. Ruppelt tried to settle this question once and for all in his 1956 Report on Unidentified Flying Objects.
Bernal Diaz del Castillo only had to worry about getting his facts right in the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espana.
The figure of Dracula lies at the root of an entire genre of fiction, and while there are several versions of Bram Stoker’s classic in the LibriVox catalog, the dramatic reading scores consistently high marks with listeners.
Back to the 14,276 volunteers who come together online in the forums to produce audiobooks. LibriVox is entirely volunteer-run as well, with many daily admin tasks that often remain invisible.
All new members who signed up in the last few years received their welcome email from m8b1 (Maria). She read her childhood favourite, Outlaws of Ravenhurst by Sister M. Imelda Wallace for LibriVox herself.
Many new and old members read for the weekly/fortnightly poetry collections, run since their inception almost exclusively by aradlaw (David). He enjoys Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children, a live performance of which he saw many years ago – real steam locomotive included!
Annise (Anne) has been librivoxing for almost as long. Nowadays, she’s involved in making mb4s and covers for the catalog. Her very first project as dedicated proof listener (DPL) was The Fairyland of Science by Arabella Buckley, another book for kids.
In the old days, kids were often told to be “seen, not heard”, and it seems that craigdav1 (David) took it to heart and became not a reader, but a serial DPL. The book that is always with him on a player is Plato’s Republic, all ten volumes of it.
Ancient Egypt is the setting for redrun’s favourite: The Cat of Bubastes by G. H. Henty. Maybe he needs this to balance his “job” at LibriVox: keeping the systems up and running…
It’s the nature of volunteering that readers come and go. Some only wanted to contribute their favourite book. Some stay for many years, leave for a while, then return again. And some, sadly, pass on for good, leaving their LibriVox legacy behind forever.
Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023) was LibriVox founding member and long-term admin. Her last recording was her favourite book: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Beth Thomas (1969-2020) was for many years the resident Drama Queen, involved in numerous plays and dramatic readings. Her final project, published a year after her death, was Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
Lars Rolander (1942-2016) brought many works of Selma Lagerlöf to an English-speaking audience. In Swedish, he read the four-book series En Nyckfull Kvinna by Emilie Flygare Carlen.
Andy Minter (1934-2017) and his dry wit were made for humorous books, and he never disappointed. One of his funny contributions can be found in Mark Twain’s 1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors.
Dorothy Lieder (1915-2008) was probably the oldest reader at LibriVox. At the age of 92, she teamed up with her son John for a chapter in The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess.
But no need to dwell on the past. For every volunteer who moves on, a new one will come, not to follow in somebody’s footsteps, but to seek their own path in the adventure that is discovering old books through LibriVox.
Shakuntala is one of them. Penned in the 4th or 5th century by the Indian poet Kalidasa, it is a timeless story of love and betrayal, here recorded by a full cast in an English translation.
In contrast, the 20 Ukrainian Folk Tales by Volodymyr Hnatyuk and Ivan Rudchenko are offered in their original language. Most of these tales have a happy ending.
That many not be the case for the next compilation, so be warned: In der Geisterstunde und andere Spukgeschichten gathers six spooky stories by German author Paul Heyse.
Who knows what stories The Girls of St. Cyprian’s tell each other after midnight… During the day, they are focused on a competition, where they are set against other schools in the novel by Angela Brazil.
What ever they might set their minds to, It Can be Done. And even more so with this book of more than 200 inspiration poems compiled by Joseph Morris Bachelor and St. Clair Adams.
The Mission of LibriVox
to make all books in the public domain available, narrated by real people and distributed for free, in audio format on the internet
will never be done, and there will always be people who enjoy reading books and others who want to listen to them. So, LibriVoxers are confidently looking ahead and step forward to another 20 Years of LibriVox. And if you’re inspired to contribute – we’re happy to see you in the forums!