Listening Books is a UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 audiobook charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 founded in 1959 by Norma Skemp.. It provides a subscription internet streaming and postal audiobook service to anyone who has an illness or disability which makes it difficult to hold a book, turn pages or read in the usual way. Their patron is Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...

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The charity also campaigns for the widening of the scope of the "articles for the blind" scheme, which provides free postage for items sent to the blind.

The charity runs an annual "Listening Books Award for the Spoken Word" at the Hay Festival

Hay Festival

The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales for ten days from May to June. Devised by Norman and Peter Florence in 1988, the festival was described by Bill Clinton in 2001 as "The Woodstock of the mind"...

. In 2008, this was won by Sandi Toksvig

Sandi Toksvig

Sandra Brigitte “Sandi” Toksvig is a Danish comedian, author and presenter on British radio and television.-Career:...

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