All-Star Cast Performs Kevin Morris' White Man's Problems for Audible Studios

NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Audible Studios, a production arm of Audible.com, today announced the release of White Man's Problems, a collection of short stories from a virtuosic new voice in American fiction, Kevin Morris. The audiobook includes nine stories that strike a riveting balance between comedy and catastrophe, each one performed by one of Hollywood's most talented voices. Narrators are Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Lost star Josh Holloway, singer-songwriter Pete Yorn, Academy Award nominee Minnie Driver, actor-director Sarah Polley and Scrubs star John C. McGinley. The author joins this star-studded cast in narrating the collection's final story. White Man's Problems is available for download at audible.com/wmp.

"Kevin's stories have clear identities and sense of place, those places and times in every man's life when 'who and where we wanted to be' meets 'who and where we are' in zero hour moments," said Matthew McConaughey. "Storytelling's what I do for a living as an actor and just like an actor, if the script's good, I don't have to do as much 'acting' per se, just let the voice of his characters speak simply and honestly."

"It's humbling to hear the stories come together in this way," said Morris. "I am so grateful to have such a collection of artists and friends read the material. I feel as though each is a perfect match for his or her story. Casting it -- even as I was writing it, in some cases -- has been a unique and flattering process. I wanted to go the extra mile and do this audiobook because I thought it would be a separate and fun world for the work to grow into. It all seems organic to me, which is why I think the art form, so long it's kept an art form, will continue to thrive."

"In the hands of these talented performers, Kevin Morris' already moving and thoughtful stories become transporting listening experiences," said Audible EVP and Publisher Beth Anderson. "The depth, nuance, creativity and range displayed in each of these distinctive performances make for an outstanding audiobook."

White Man's Problems is Morris' first work of fiction; it was published in paperback by Grove Press in December 2014 to critical acclaim.

Among the acclaimed performers who have narrated works of literature for Audible are Dan Stevens, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kate Winslet and Tim Robbins. In 2013, Audible Studios won its first Grammy Award, for its production of Janis Ian's memoir Society's Child, and also won the Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year, for Colin Firth's performance of Graham Greene's The End of the Affair.

Audible, the world's largest seller and producer of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word content, invented and commercialized the first digital audio player in 1997, and has since been at the forefront of the explosively growing audiobook download segment. In 2014, listeners around the world downloaded 1.2 billion hours of audio from Audible.com outlets; Audible members downloaded an average of more than 17 books over the course of the year. More than half of current Audible members are first-time audiobook buyers.

ABOUT AUDIBLE, INC.

Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary AMZN, is the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible's mission is to establish literate listening as a core tool for anyone seeking to be more productive, better informed, or more thoughtfully entertained. Audible content includes more than 225,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. Audible is also the preeminent provider of spoken-word audio products for Apple's iTunes Store.

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