3 Audiobooks That Explore the Roles & Responsibilities of Writers

These days, when I’m overwhelmed by everything going on in the world, I turn to writers I love. What are they doing? What are they saying? It’s encouraging and inspiring to listen to writers trying to figure it all out — how to make work that matters, how to remain open to new ideas, how to go on changing and growing throughout their careers. These three audiobooks, by writers who’ve had long careers in journalism, fiction and nonfiction, blend memoir, reporting, political analysis and history to explore the roles and responsibilities of making art. They’re all narrated by their authors, and they are powerful reminders that, no matter who we are, what we say and how we say it matters.

READING THE WAVES by Lidia Yuknavitch

In her beautiful new memoir, READING THE WAVES, Lidia Yuknavitch explores the contours of love, grief and storytelling through a series of nonlinear recollections. Her narration, like her prose, is reminiscent of how water moves: She reads with a soft, lyrical rhythm that draws the listener in. Much of the book is about her relationships with her ex-husband and her mother, both of whom have died, as well as the death of her infant daughter. She writes poignantly about grief and about systemic and intimate violence, but alongside this, she writes about how love — of places, words, nature and people — has buoyed her throughout her life. She explores the role writing itself has played in her relationships and her understanding of self. It’s a gorgeous meditation on where memory and storytelling intersect, and how to be a writer in the world. Yuknavitch’s performance is quiet and graceful, but she’s not afraid to let her emotions come through in her narration. Listening to her read is both moving and intimate

ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad

Journalist Omar El Akkad reads his latest work of nonfiction, ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS, in a voice that demands attention. The book is a scathing indictment of American imperialism and the liberalism that undergirds it. El Akkad focuses his critique on the U.S. government’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza, writing about how his own perceptions of the country he lives in have changed over the last 2 years. He exposes the systems of interlocking violence that lie at the heart of the American project, and he asks: How can we go on living with this? His narration, like much of this book, is personal, his voice colored by anger, despair, grief and, most profoundly — love. The urgency in his performance is clearly driven by his love for people, places and communities that are under attack. He implicates everyone, including himself, and ponders what role writers can play in such a broken world. This book may not have answers, but the questions El Akkad asks are ones we all need to sit with.

THE MESSAGE by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates’s collection of three essays, THE MESSAGE, also includes writing on Palestine, although the book is more centrally about the responsibilities artists have to themselves, their work, their values, the world and other people. Coates’s narration is immediately engaging; his voice is lively and present. He’s a brilliant writer, but he’s also a wonderful storyteller, and that talent is on full display in this audiobook. In poignant, searching essays about trips to Senegal, South Carolina and Palestine, Coates explores his own development as a writer, and particularly the times when he got something wrong. In his landmark piece for The Atlantic, “The Case for Reparations,” Coates upheld the example of Germany paying reparations to the state of Israel after World War II. In recounting his trip to Palestine, he models a powerful journey of unlearning and his attempt, as a writer and public figure, to admit wrongdoing and make reparations. This is a must-listen offering of humility and growth from one of the country’s most important voices.