Bloomsbury donates entire audiobook catalogue to Royal National Institute of Blind People

Bloomsbury has donated its entire audiobook catalogue to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) Talking Books Library.

The new collection includes an estimated 600 titles. In future every Bloomsbury audiobook will be added to the RNIB Library. Some of the most requested Bloomsbury titles by users of Talking Books Library include Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, Violeta by Isabel Allende, and The Anarchy by William Dalrymple.

Sam Halstead, director of audio at Bloomsbury said: “We have long admired the brilliant work of the Talking Books Library and it is great to know that all of Bloomsbury’s wonderful audio authors, and moving forward, every audio book we publish will be available to the library’s users.

“From the world of Piranesi to the family of October, October, we publish audio books of excellence and originality and want to bring these works to as many people as possible. Working with the RNIB and bringing the entire audio catalogue onto their service means that we can support the charity, which does such important work. We are delighted to have made this happen.”

James Bartlett, RNIB Reading Services manager, added: “We are delighted that Bloomsbury will be boosting RNIB’s extensive library collection. Talking Books are important so that the estimated two million people living with sight loss in the UK can access and enjoy books just like any other person.

“Our collection of Talking Books continues to grow every day, and we are pleased that Bloomsbury has chosen to gift us their entire cache of audiobooks to help RNIB expand the collection even more.”