Audie Award Win is Fairy Tale Ending for "Tell Me a Story" Folktale Collection

Kansas City, Mo. (June 4, 2010) - It's an upset win straight out of a storybook - think Cinderella, or the tortoise and the hare.  "Tell Me a Story 3: Women of Wonder," the third audio collection from Amy Friedman's critically acclaimed children's folktales series "Tell Me a Story," beat out some very stiff competition to win this year's Audie Award for Original Work.

The Audies, an annual competition sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association, are awarded each year for outstanding work in the field of audiobooks.

The win came as a something of a shock to Friedman, who anticipated that one of her celebrated co-nominees would go home with the award.


"Sitting there in that beautiful Museum of the City of New York, flush with the pleasure of the evening, my husband leaned over and whispered, 'don't be disappointed when Alfred Molina wins,'" said Freidman. "I laughed. I honestly just felt lucky to be there, and when they did announce the winner, my husband had to push me to stand. I hadn't heard a word after 'the winner for Original Work is..."'

Released in July 2009, "Tell Me a Story 3: Women of Wonder" features lively readings by a star-studded cast of well-known vocal talents from stage and screen, bringing to life six stories of legendary heroines and goddesses from all over the world, including Great Britain, the United States, Siberia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Turkey.

Among the narrators for the "Women of Wonder" Tell Me a Story collection are comedians Paula Poundstone and Wendy Hammers, actresses Bryce Dallas Howard (Terminator Salvation, Spider-Man 3) and Yvette Freeman (ER), jazz singer Margot Rose and voice actress Jessica DiCicco, of Nickelodeon fame. They are accompanied by the original music of renowned composer Laura Hall, whose exquisite arrangements garnered rave reviews on each of the first two "Tell Me a Story" CD collections. Hall's "Women of Wonder" musical compositions are performed with the piano, violin, trumpet, harmonica, tuba, guitar, and more.

Canadian artist Jillian Gilliland provided the cover and interior artwork for the collection of multicultural tales.

"Tell Me a Story 3: Women of Wonder," featuring nearly 70 minutes of "magical stories and marvelous music from around the world," is available for purchase online from Baker & Taylor Books, Amazon.com, CD Baby, BWI Books and AV Cafe as well as through the Web site MythsAndTales.com.  Individual digital downloads are available on more than 30 sites, including Listen & Live Audio, Audible.com and iTunes.

The first two "Tell Me a Story" CD collections, entitled "Tell Me A Story: Timeless Folktales from Around the World" and "Tell Me a Story 2: Animal Magic," received excellent reviews and multiple awards.  Both collections won the National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) Gold and the Parents' Choice Silver Honors Award by the Parents' Choice Foundation, and "Animal Magic" also won a World Storytelling Award.

Amy Friedman and illustrator Jillian Gilliland created "Tell Me a Story" in 1992, and the column, which is syndicated by Universal Uclick®, continues to delight readers around the world. Though touted as a feature for children, the stories have long been a hit with folklore scholars and enjoyed by readers of all ages who love a good tale.

For more information, visit MythsAndTales.com or UniversalUclick.com.


About Universal Uclick
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