For almost 200 years, Thomas Kyd had fallen into obscurity, even though the playwright from the 1580s was among the most important figures of Elizabethan drama. Here, we present his most famous play The Spanish Tragedy, where a man (or rather: a ghost) takes revenge…

Winston S. Churchill also saw many people die – he was British Prime Minister during WWII. Besides that, he was a renowned writer of nonfiction and even received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. During his long term in parliament, he had to give many public addresses, some of which are collected in Selected House of Common Speeches.

Being the British Prime Minister does not seem to hinder one’s private pursuits. Another one – Benjamin Disraeli – was a well known literary figure and is credited with the invention of the political novel. One of his best known is Sibyl, or the Two Nations, tracing the plight of the working classes in England.

Definitely not working class was Charlotte Yonge. She was homeschooled by her father, and started writing in 1848. She wrote about 160 novels in her life time, many of them with a historical theme that she painstakingly researched. Her book The Litte Duke is based on the life of Richard, Duke of Normandy.

Samuel Pepys had a number of highborn family members, but he spent his childhood in relative poverty. Only through fastidious studying, which earned him a scholarship at Cambridge, did he climb the ranks and finally became Chief Secretary to the Admiralty. He is best known for The Diary of Samuel Pepys, which he kept from 1660 – 1669.

Rita (pen name of Eliza M. Humphreys) on the other hand, received little education. Even so, she became a famous author and wrote 120 novels – one of them even sold 160,000 copies! In The Mystery of a Turkish Bath the guests of an exclusive Hampshire hotel witness the strange and dangerous display of occult powers…

Marie Corelli, an illegitimate child, started writing in 1886 and became the most widely read author of fiction of her time. She even outsold A. Conan Doyle, but was always belittled by critics. In The Secret Power, the female inventor of an airship and the male holder of destructive powers get involved romantically – but question marks remain for both of them.

No question marks are there about the new teacher at Dr. Wortle’s School: It is clear that she is a bigamist. The religious school deals with it in the style of Anthony Trollope. He was one of the most renowned authors of Victorian England, and is best known for the Chronicles of Barsetshire.

Also from the Victorian era hails Sir Henry W. Lucy, a political journalist. He taught himself shorthand and French and worked as a reporter from 1864 for a number of different newspapers. Faces and Places is a collection of articles on travels he made in various countries.

Dora Sigerson Shorter was an Irish Poet and a major figure of the Irish Literary Revival. Sadly, she died at only 51 years of age. The Sad Years is a collection of her poetry concerning WWI, from 1914 – 1918.

Enjoy discovering new British authors!

When discussing Spanish writers, you cannot pass over Miguel de Cervantes. Living in poverty throughout his childhood, and never able to live from his writing, he is now considered the greatest novelist in the Spanish tongue. His Exemplary Novels are a collection of his shorter writings – also available in the original Spanish.

Instant fame was bestowed upon Fernan Caballero on the publication of the first novel. However, behind the pseudonym hides Cecilia Böhl de Faber, who, widowed three times, nevertheless wrote all thorugh her life. Cuentos, Adivinanzas y Refranes Populares collects 39 of her short stories and poems.

By far not so lucky was Doña Juana of Spain, daughter of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. She was devastated at the loss of her husband and was thenceforth known as “the Mad”. Historia de la célebre Reina de España Doña Juana, llamada vulgarmente La Loca is a short biography of hers, written by an unknown author.

Another autobiography on our list is The Life of St. Teresa. St. Teresa of Avila (or: St. Teresa of Jesus) was a Roman Catholic mystic from Spain, and her books about contemplative life are an integral part of Spanish Renaissance literature as well as of Catholic literature. We also have a Spanish recording of this book.

An important writer of the Spanish Golden Age is Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Orphaned as a child, he wanted to take orders, but studied law instead. He finally became a playwright and wrote more than 70 plays, some of which were already translated into English in the 17th century. In the comedy La Dama Duende he pokes fun at the prevalent superstition of his age.

Another law student turned writer is Juan Ramón Jiménez, born in Andalucia. He was a very prolific writer as well: His first books were published when he was only 18, and with 74, two years before his death, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Platero y Yo is a cute little prose diary – of a donkey.

You may not know him by name, but many of his stories were made into Hollywood movies: Vicente Blasco Ibañez. Born in Valencia, he studied law, and became a politician, journalist, and best selling author. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a ripping yarn about two Argentinian families in WWI.

Of equally grave consequences was the death of general Francisco Franco of Spain. The Constitución Española de 1978 is the major document to ease the transition from dictatorship to democracy – even more so since this change was supported by both the people, and the royal court in Madrid.

Also set in Madrid is Insolación about a short lived love affair in the city’s unbearable summer heat. It was written by Emilia Pardo Bazán, who was born in Galicia. She counts among the chiefs of the naturalistic movent in Spain, as well as of feminist literature.

There are many more interesting Spanish authors, we cannot list them all here. However, 50 more and their poems are collected in Las Cien Mejores Poesías de la Lengua Castellana.

Enjoy getting to know authors from Spain!

Have you run across a Librivox book that’s for sale or has an embedded advertisement? Look in our catalog for the originals, which are always free and never include ads.

Many of our listeners use apps to access Librivox recordings. Librivox has nothing to do with app development. All apps are produced by third parties. There is no legal problem with app developers using our public-domain recordings because public domain means that our volunteers reserve no rights. App developers don’t ask our permission, and we don’t try to stop anyone from using (or selling) our recordings because they are not doing anything illegal. And an app can sometimes be the easiest way to access an audiobook on a mobile device.

Listeners who are not having a good experience with an app often contact us directly, not realizing that we did not make the app and have no say in the content. This is to be expected when you make your recordings free for anyone to use as they like. The admin who monitors our help email simply lets them know that we aren’t involved with any apps and asks them to contact the developers instead.

Lately we have been hearing from listeners who are angry about political ads embedded within Librivox books. Not knowing that we didn’t place the ads, they now associate Librivox with political viewpoints they strongly disagree with. Some have told us they are no longer recommending Librivox to friends and family and are no longer open to volunteering for Librivox, as they had once planned to do.

If you know of anyone who is angry about a fee for or an addition to a Librivox book, please let them know they can come to our website to download the originals for free. And ask them to tell the app developers what they think, good as well as bad; this can help the truly useful audiobook apps become even better. We have let the app maker who included the ads know about the negative feedback.

(re-post from October 6, which was lost in the system failure)

We have now fixed the server and are very busy to recreate our catalog. However, this will take some time, so please be patient. We hope to have the catalog and the homepage fully restored within a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, all our catalogued books (even those from after September 15) are safely stored on the Internet Archive and can be accessed and downloaded from the LibriVox page on archive.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience and want to thank you already for your patience.

Kasperl in der Türkei is also a travel narrative, although it is by far not politically correct. The main character is Kasperl Larifari, a brainchild of Franz Graf von Pocci, who was a court official of Ludwig I. of Bavaria. However, he is better known as the founder of the Munich Marionette Theatre, for which he wrote numerous plays like the above.

When Gottfried Keller was young, he wanted to become a painter, but despite having talent, he turned to writing instead. In 1876 he retired early from a government job to write full time. His most famous novel is Der grüne Heinrich – dealing with the life on an impoverished young artist – which is considered autobiographical.

Carl von Ossietzky was a German pacifist who worked as an investigative journalist. He was convicted for treason in 1931, and received the 1935 Nobel Prize for Peace – a controversial decision. His collected writings Sämtliche Schriften 1911-1921 for various newspapers are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago.

Another German journalist was Jakob Wassermann; he worked as copy editor for the Simplicissimus in Munich and released his first novel in 1896. His novel Caspar Hauser oder die Trägheit des Herzens attempts to solve the mystery surrounding the famous foundling of Nuremberg.

A mystery also shrouds Die Frau mit den Karfunkelsteinen by Eugenie Marlitt, a very popular German novelist. As a young girl she was adopted by Princess of Schwarzenberg-Sondershausen and sent to Vienna to study music. However, Eugenie became deaf and eventually, at age 38, turned to writing novels.

Not quite so drastic a change of occupation was that of Martin Luther. The monk, disgusted by some practices of Catholicism, became a seminal figure in the Protestant Revolution, and was excommunicated in 1521. His book Der Kleine Kathechismus was meant to teach Bible basics to common people, and is – with small modifications – still in use today. We also have an English translation of this book.

Theology, amongst others, was one of the studies Carl Spitteler engaged in. The Swiss poet then became a teacher in Russia and started publishing in 1881. He won the Nobelprize for Literature in 1919, and his Balladen is a good collection of his poems.

Poetry stood at the beginning of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff’s literary career. A precocious but unencouraged child, she became one of the most important German poets. Her most famous novella is Die Judenbuche about a murder that is avenged only years after the deed…

Some 100 years after her, Stefan Zweig was one of the most popular writers world wide. Of Jewish descent, he left Austria after the Nazis came to power. He committed suicide together with his wife in 1942. Brennendes Geheimnis deals with a young boy who cannot understand his mother’s attraction to another man. An English version is available.

Enjoy our selection of German authors!

Unfortunately, there are not many authors of Aboriginal or Maori descent in our catalog, since their legends and history were traditionally transmitted orally. The Stone Axe of Burkamukk is only one of the legends of the Gunaikurnai people of Gippsland, collected and written down by Mary Bruce Grant.

Among the first Whites to settle in Australia were convicts from England, one of them David Dickinson Mann. After his full pardon 3 years after his arrival, he became a secretary for the colonial government. The Present Picture of New South Wales gives a detailed account of the colony and its history, as well as suggestions for improvements to save the government’s money.

Another type of improvement was on the mind of Thomas Esson, when he founded the Pioneer Players theatre company. He had come to Australia when we was 3 years old, and is considered the continent’s foremost playwright. His best known play is the political comedy The Time is Not Yet Ripe.

Not quite the right moment was it for Miles Franklin to publish her first romantic novel My Brilliant Career. Although an immediate success, she experienced some backlash from her friends and so she forbade republication in her lifetime. She founded the eponymous award for literature about “Australian life in any of its phases”.

Only a short phase in the turbulent life of Mary Ann Barker was spent in the southern hemisphere. Born in Jamaica, she followed her second husband in 1865 to experience Station Life in New Zealand. The place proved more unwelcoming than expected, and when they lost half of their sheep in the third year, they moved back to England.

Australian life was equally hard on Adam Lindsay Gordon, who moved there when he was 20. Although a renowned steeple-chase rider, his other endeavours were less fortunate, and he commited suicide at age 36. He is the only Australian poet with a bust in Westminster Abbey, and we have a collection of 56 of his Poems.

Rolf Boldrewood – a pseudonym of Thomas Alexander Browne – was 5 when he came to Sydney, and he had a varied career as squatter, writer, and police officer. His experiences as the latter were certainly the blueprint for Robbery Under Arms, a mostly true tale about bush rangers, cattle stealing, and final remorse on death row.

Even if he were caught, criminal mastermind Dr. Nikola would not regret seeking immortality and world domination. A Bid for Fortune is the first novel centered around him, written by Guy Boothby. Born in Adelaide, Boothby followed his mother back to England upon her divorce, where he lived most of his life when he wasn’t travelling.

Katherine Mansfield, born in New Zealand, also left for England at age 19, where she died already with 34 without visiting her home country again. Also an eager traveller, she used her own experiences as inspiration for her modernist short stories. In a German Pension is her first collection about German life before WWI.

ANZAC was the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps founded in 1914, and Joseph Lievesley Beeston was an officer commanding the 4th field ambulance. In Five Months at ANZAC he describes his daily life from the moment he left Australia in December 2014 until his evacuation from Gallipoli.

Enjoy discovering authors from Australia and New Zealand!

It is Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Volume 1) by Songling Pu, translated by Herbert A. Giles, and recorded as a group project by more than 20 LibriVox volunteers.

This number includes 5556 solos as well as 1349 projects in one of 36 non-English languages.

A big Thank you! to all of our currently 7611 readers for their contributions, whether large or small, to this milestone!

When LibriVox started in August 2005, nobody knew where this would be going, or if this was going at all. But it took a handful of people only 47 days to produce LibriVox’s very first audiobook: The Secret Agent, a yarn written by Joseph Conrad about a band of spies and agent provocateurs planning to blow up Greenwich Observatory.

Only three weeks later, the first solo recording was complete: The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum. The full title tells you what it is about: The Road to Oz: In Which Is Related How Dorothy Gale of Kansas, The Shaggy Man, Button Bright, and Polychrome the Rainbow’s Daughter Met on an Enchanted Road and Followed it All the Way to the Marvelous Land of Oz.

Already in November 2005 the weekly poetry projects were born, and they have served as low level entrance point for newbies and as quick little go-to projects for poetry addicts ever since. The first weekly poem was In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, and we have 7 interpretations of this well-known poem there.

December 23rd of the same year saw the completion of the very first non-English book. The language was German, the book the Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx. Our English version of the book had been published just 4 days prior.

From now on, things started to run smoothly and with many more volunteers getting to know LibriVox and trying their hands at recording, production sped up. On March 16th 2006 the 100th book was published; a collective recording of Walt Whitman’s collected poetry, written over his entire lifetime: Leaves Of Grass.

It took only 2 more days for the completion of the first volume of the Märchen der Gebrüder Grimm. This German book marked the 10th foreign language book on LibriVox. Seven of them were German, but there were already books in Finnish, Latin, and Japanese as well.

August 9th 2006, exactly 365 days after LibriVox was born, saw a number of projects completed. Among them was the first full-cast recording of an English drama, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, reputed as being the wittiest play in the English language.

Also published on the very same day was the first full-cast recording of a non-English drama: Leonce und Lena by Georg Büchner. It is about a prince and a princess who were betrothed by their families and run away – only to find each other by chance in Italy where they fall in love with each other despite everything…

After that, LibriVoxers buckled down and kept recording more and more books. And already in October 2007 we could announce 1000 completed audiobooks. The one in question was The Murders in the Rue Morgue, probably one of the most famous stories by Edgar Allan Poe.

It took four years and two weeks more to reach the next milestone of 5000 published audiobooks. This time Roderick Hudson by Henry James took the honorable spot. It’s about an American sculptor in Europe and his growth there – a favourite theme of James’.

Enjoy – and raise your glass in celebration on the 10th of August!

Oh, you want to know about our next milestone – 10,000 projects? Well, it will happen, in fact, it is just about to happen: We are approaching this milestone with sonic speed, and with a bit of luck we can announce LibriVox audiobook  #10,000 just before our anniversary – as the perfect gift for LibriVox and from LibriVox to you.

Tigers were probably present at the 금수회의록 (Assembly of Animals) that was called in to criticise and judge mankind. Author Ahn Guk-seon, born in 1878, served in the Korean military for about 20 years, and one cannot help wondering whether he got his inspiration there…

His childhood in India at the turn of the 20th century certainly served as inspiration for Dhan Gopal Mukerji. Born in a small village near Calcutta, he eventually left for the US where he became a writer to sustain himself. Kari the Elephant was one of the children’s books for which he received the Newbery Medal.

Another Indian prize winner – the 1913 Nobelprize – is poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore. The Bard of Bengal was virtually unknown outside his country for a long time, and he wrote his first work in English when he was 50 years old: My Reminiscences.

Cao Xueqin had a long heritage to look back upon. His ancestors had been high officials at court, but had fallen from grace so he had to live in poverty himself. A similar chain of events involving the Chia family is described in The Dream of the Red Chamber, one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels.

More classic than this are only The Nō Plays of Japan, a collection of plays from various authors. They date back to the 14th century and are still performed today in the exact same manner and the exact same language as then, making them almost impossible to understand even for a Japanese audience.

Equally hard to comprehend must have been the concept of Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule. The book by Gandhi is a dialogue between him and the reader to convince the typical countryman of the idea. It was written in Gujarati (and immediately banned) and then translated into English by Gandhi himself, probably the only author on this list who does not need an introduction.

No introduction can be given for Pura L. Medrano, since we do not know anything about this author. However, Nang Bata Pa Kami was written by her (or him?), the story of the secret courtship of two lovers, told from the viewpoints of both. Who knows, there may even be a happy ending in this story from the Philippines.

坊っちゃん (Botchan) does have a happy ending of some sorts. It tells the story of a young teacher on his first assignment at a middle school and is still widely read today. Written by Sōseki Natsume, considered the foremost writer of the Meiji period, if not of Japanese history, it is one of his three best known novels. We also have it in English.

Another teacher, who later became a government employee, was Xun Lu. Born in 1881, he is considered the leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Here, we present 热风 (Hot Wind), a collection of essays and commentaries on China and the Chinese, which redefined the definition of “essay” in Chinese literature.

As we started, so will we end: with animals. Renowned as the Nightingale of Shiraz, Saadi was a major poet of medieval Persia. He was very famous at his time already and has even been quoted in western sources. “Gulistan” is considered among his greatest works, and it is contained in our recording of The Poetry of Sadi.

Enjoy finding new Asian authors in our catalog!

Duration: 14:12

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Hosted by MaryAnn Spiegel

With contributions from Roger Melin, Newgatenovelist, Gaby, Lucy Perry, Monika M. C., Boris, Charlotte Duckett, John Burlinson, and Sonia.

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Show Notes:
00:00 Introduction
01:55 Roger
02:23 Newgatenovelist,
02:41 Zwergwolf
06:40 Lucy_k_p
06:50 moniaqua
07:17 Boris
09:14 catrose
10:16 Jburlinson
11:16 Kitty
12:36 MaryAnnSpiegel
13:39 Boris
13:58 Conclusion

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We are interested in whatever feedback – positive or constructively critical – anyone has about our podcasts. Add a comment below or pop over to this forum thread. Any member of the community who has contributed readings to the LibriVox catalog can host a podcast and is most welcome to do so. Visit this thread on the forum to express an interest and float your ideas.

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To Subscribe to the Librivox Community Podcast, go to: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibrivoxCommunityPodcast Or hit this itunes link to get you to the subscribe page: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=203970211

Recent past LibriVox Community Podcast files can be found at our spot on: Archive.org and archived shows for previous years can be found at: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013-2016.

Archived shownotes for the Community Podcast can be found at: http://librivox.org/category/librivox-community-podcast/ And the rss feed for those shownotes is: http://librivox.org/category/librivox-community-podcast/feed

Probably the most famous one we have is Vincent van Gogh. Yes, to be fair, he was not an author, but one of the greatest painters who ever lived… Still, some letters to his brother and his friend E. Bernard have survived and are collected in The Letters of a Post-Impressionist.

Then there is Louis Couperus, one of the foremost figures of Dutch literature who wrote more than 40 books, not including his poetry and short stories. In his Langs Lijnen van Geleidelijkheid, 23 year old divorcee Cornelie de Retz goes to Italy in search of a new life. The English version caused quite a stir because of the explicit eroticism of the book.

Not quite so explicit is Goena-goena about a woman willing to do anything to take the man she loves from his wife. It was written by Paul Adriaan Daum who, despite having received very little education, founded the largest newspaper in the Dutch East Indies.

Via their colonies in the East Indies, the Dutch were involved in the slave trade. Twee redevoeringen tegen de slavernij in de Nederlandse koloniën contains two pamphlets written by the historian Julien Wolbers and the theologian Nicolaas Beets, where they make their case for abolition.

Whether they did it in The Imitation of Christ is not known, even though they might have read this book in Dutch even. It was written by Thomas a Kempis, a Dutch canon reguar, in the 15th century and remains the best known manual of Christian devotion. We also have a Latin version of it.

Alphonse Olterdissen wrote in a completely different language: the local dialect of Maastricht, a town in the south of the Netherlands. The final stanza of one of his operas even became the local anthem of the city. Here we present you with Drei korte verhaole in ‘t Meestrechs.

Maarten Maartens also did not write in Dutch but in English, and because his frail health forced him to move all through Europe, he is all but forgotten in the Netherlands. His books were popular in England though, for example God’s Fool about a deaf and blind man who becomes the richest man in town and now has to keep his brothers in check…

A much larger following in his own country has Herman Heijermans, the son of liberal Jews born in Rotterdam. Although mainly a playwright, under the pseudonym Samuel Falkland he wrote hundreds of short stories. His book Gevleugelde Daden is a humorous story about the first Dutch pioneers of flying.

A pioneer of a different kind was Christiaan Huygens. He was a 17th century mathematician and natural philosopher, and considered one of the leading scientists of his time. He is especially remembered for his wave theory of light, which he published in the 1690 work Treatise on Light, the largest book on optics before Newton’s book of 1704.

Hieronymus van Alphen was a lawyer in Utrecht, who became the minister of finance towards the end of the Dutch Republic. In his spare time he wrote mostly religious poetry, but the tiny book of 66 Kleine Gedigten voor Kinderen is his most famous legacy.

Enjoy discovering Dutch authors in our catalog!

When talking about Italian romance, the Betrothed Lucia and Renzo come to mind. Deeply in love with each other, they are still prevented to marry in the masterpiece by Alessandro Manzoni. Interestingly, before Manzoni started writing at age 15, he was considered a dunce, but already his first sonnets were highly acclaimed.

The above book was a milestone in developing modern Italian, something the Renaissance humanist scholar Sperone Speroni would have been proud of. His Dialogo delle lingue is a defense of the vernacular languages of Italy instead of Latin, which was still favoured when he lectured on philosophy in Padua.

Another philosopher, this time of the Age of Enlightenment, was Cesare Beccaria. Appalled at what he saw as a jurist, he penned An Essay on Crimes and Punishments, condemning torture and the death penalty. Beccaria was considered a most talented jurist, and his ideas are known to have influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States.

Giovanni Verga was also set to become a jurist, but while officially studying law, he used his fathers money to publish his first novel. Under the Shadow of Etna: Sicilian Stories is a selection of his short stories that revolve around rural life in Sicily as he knew it from childhood.

Cuore, the diary of a 10 year old boy, sends us back to childhood as well. It was published when school began in 1886 and became an immediate success amongst children (and possible adults too). It is the most acclaimed work of Edmondo de Amicis, an officer in the Army of the Kingdom of Italy, who turned novelist, journalist, and short story writer.

Hundreds of short stories and more than 40 novels came from the feather of Luigi Pirandello, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934. Here we offer you Il fu Mattia Pascal, who, unhappy with his life, sneaks away to Monte Carlo where he makes a fortune. On the way back home he discovers that his wife had declared him dead, which leaves him free to go wherever he likes…

Equally fond of travelling was Emilo Salgari. Born in Verona, he wanted to explore the sea, but he never graduated from his studies of seamanship, thus ending his dream. Instead, he turned to writing, for example Le meraviglie del Duemila, a brilliant science fiction story where two men from 1903 travel to 2003 and explore railroads under ground and cities under water.

Guido Gustavo Gozzano did travel quite a bit between the Riviera and mountain villages, but it was not done for amusement, but to improve his health. Unfortunately, it did not work as hoped, and he died when only 32. What a loss, because his book of poetry I Colloqui, published only 5 years before, was an acclaimed success.

Successful were certainly those who made it into the Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects by Giorgio Vasari. He himself was a painter and architect, and a friend of Michelangelo’s, but he is most remembered for the book above, which is considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing; and that despite a certain bias in favour of the Florentines.

The Venitian catholic priest Lorenzo da Ponte may not have cared for fame very much. Still, he left us 28 librettos that were turned into operas by 11 composers. Among them is Don Juan, which Mozart famously renamed Don Giovanni and set to unforgettable music.

Enjoy finding new Italian authors in our catalog!

Duration: 42:00

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Hosted by Charlotte Duckett

With contributions from Lean Yau, Carol Box, Maria Kasper, John Burlinson, Caprisha Page, Adele de Pignerolles, and Esther ben Simonides.

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0:00 – Introduction
0:55 – Charlotte Duckett’s first experience of Shakespeare at Librivox
2:37 – Extract from Macbeth (http://librivox.org/the-tragedy-of-macbeth-by-william-shakespeare/) Starring mb and John Leider
4:49 – Lean Yau on the joys of Hamlet at Librivox including Ophelia’s Monologue (http://librivox.org/shakespeare-monologues-collection-vol-12-by-william-shakespeare/)
8:15 – Extract from Hamlet (http://librivox.org/hamlet-version-3-by-william-shakespeare/) Starring Elizabeth Klett
11:00 – Carol Box on Early Experiences of Shakespeare
13:30 – Extract from Cymberline (http://librivox.org/shakespearean-dialogues-collection-001-by-wiliam-shakespeare/) Starring Carol Box and David Richardson
14:35 – Extract from The Winter’s Tale (http://librivox.org/the-winters-tale-by-william-shakespeare/) Starring Arielle Lipshaw and Bruce Pirie
15:55 – Maria Kasper shares her experiences of Shakespeare
18:38 – Extract from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (http://librivox.org/a-midsummer-nights-dream-version-3-by-william-shakespeare/) Starring Chuck Williamson, Algy Pug, Alan Mapstone, Monika MC, gloriousjob and Libby Gohn
20:02 – Extract from The Tempest (http://librivox.org/the-tempest-by-william-shakespeare/) Starring Bruce Pirie, mb and Elizabeth Klett
21:20 – John Burlinson on Audiodramas of Shakespeare Projects
24:49 – Extract from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (https://librivox.org/a-midsummer-nights-dream-version-4-by-william-shakespeare/) Starring Tony Addison, John Burlinson and Sonia
26:40 – Favourite Scenes from Shakespeare (http://librivox.org/favourite-scenes-from-shakespeare-by-william-shakespeare/) Starring Tony Addison, John Burlinson, Sonia, Beth Thomas and Michelle Eaton
28:15 – Experiences of Shakespeare from Caprisha Page
29:31 – Extract from Coriolanus (https://librivox.org/shakespearean-dialogues-collection-002-by-william-shakespeare/) Starring Duan, Caprisha Page and Martin Geeson
30:23 – A Tribute to Denny Sayers
31:40 – Extract from Romeo and Juliet (http://librivox.org/romeo-and-juliet-version-4-by-william-shakespeare/) Starring Denny Sayers
34:19 – Adele de Pignerolles and Esther ben Simonides – Behind the scenes at the Flashmob Shakespeare Project
41:29 – Outro

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We are interested in whatever feedback – positive or constructively critical – anyone has about our podcasts. Add a comment below or pop over to this forum thread. Any member of the community who has contributed readings to the LibriVox catalog can host a podcast and is most welcome to do so. Visit this thread on the forum to express an interest and float your ideas.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To Subscribe to the Librivox Community Podcast, go to: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibrivoxCommunityPodcast Or hit this itunes link to get you to the subscribe page: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=203970211

Recent past LibriVox Community Podcast files can be found at our spot on: Archive.org and archived shows for previous years can be found at: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013-2016.

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Let’s start with Padre Antonio Vieira who, born in Portugal, moved to Brazil as a child and there became a renowed Jesuit preacher. He felt that the ideal sermon should make the listeners feel discontented with themselves. Find out for yourself from a collection of his Sermões.

Since he was seen as the fulfillment of a catholic prophecy, Garcia Moreno, President of Ecuador 1821 – 1875 was equally revered. Under him the country made a substantial leap forward – until he was assassinated. This biography was written by Augustine Berthe, about whom nothing further seems to be known.

Much more famous than her is Olavo Bilac, since he wrote the lyrics for the Brazilian Flag Anthem. Contos para Velhos are short stories and poems about adult themes, published under a pseudonym.

From adults to stories for boys and girls with La Edad de Oro by José Martí. He was a symbol of Cuba’s independence movement from Spain and to this day is called its apostle. Although he died at only 42, he is an important figure of Latin American literature.

José de Alencar, a lawyer, politician, and writer is probably the most famous representative of Brazilian Romanticism as well as Indianism. In Senhora, Aurélia takes bitter revenge on her fiancé Fernando who left her to marry money instead.

There’s not much money in poetry, so José Hernández earned his keep as journalist and politician in Argentina. Today however, he is best known for the long narrative poem El Gaucho Martín Fierro, considered the pinnacle of gauchesque literature.

The Brazilian Lima Barreto started to write for newspapers in 1902. Already in 1911, at the age of 30, he wrote his pre-modernism masterpiece Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma. In it, we follow the life of an army bureaucrat whose patriotism finally leads to his own destruction.

Horacio Quiroga from Uruguay also started writing early, when only 22, although he had many other interests as well like photography, chemistry, philosophy,… In South American Jungle Tales he uses the supernatural and bizarre to showcase every beings struggle for survival.

The greatest writer of Brazilian literature is Machado de Assis. However, the multiligual novelist, playwright, and poet is virtually unknown outside his own country. Esaú e Jacó tells the story of two brothers finding themselves on different political sides in post-independence Brazil.

There are many more Latin American writers that remain to be discovered (and recorded for LibriVox). Some of their finest work has been collected in Pan-American Poems: An Anthology. They were translated into English by Agnes Blake Poor.

Enjoy discovering Latin American authors in our catalog!

What better person to represent the nation than one who shares its name. Anatole France won the 1921 Nobelprize for literature for “a nobility in style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament”. Read his novel The Revolt of the Angels and judge for yourself.

Judging people and their quirks may have been a reason for Michel de Montaigne to write his Essays. Born into a wealthy family and brought up in Latin, he was a famous philosopher and statesman of the French Renaissance.

Marguerite de Navarre lived around the same time, and her patronage of humanists and reformers earned her the title “first modern woman”. She has written The Heptameron, a string of tales telling of love, lust, and infidelity.

Paquita Valdez, La fille aux yeux d’or, is seduced by Henri de Marcay who wants to kill her when he finds out she has another lover. But he is not the only one in this book which is part of La Comédie Humaine, considered the masterpiece of Honoré de Balzac. We also have an English translation of this book.

The masterpiece of Pierre Corneille, one of the three great dramatists of 17th century France is Le Cid. The tragicomedy in five acts is based on a medieval legend and in turn inspired operas by Handel and Massenet.

A tragic topic treated tongue-in-cheek is L’ Art de payer ses dettes et de satisfaire ses créanciers sans débourser un sou. French historian, writer, and feuilletonist Emile Marco de Saint-Hilaire has written this manual in 10 lessons.

Since his family was poor, lessons were something Jean-Henri Fabre never had; still the autodidact became a teacher when only 19, and later on France’s best known entymologist. Read his book on one of the few insects working for mankind, The Mason-Bees.

A genius of a different kind was Paul Verlaine. His first book of poems – Poèmes saturniens – was published when he was only 22, and at his early death with 51 he was hailed as one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siecle in French poetry.

At that time, Emile Gaboriau was equally famous. The journalist and novelist was a pioneer of modern detective fiction. His most famous character was Monsieur Lecoq, a young police officer, whose numerous cases kept people in suspense. An English version is available in Part 1 and Part 2.

Another literary pioneer was Madame de La Fayette, who wrote France’s first historical novel and one of the earliest novels in literature. Many of the characters involved in the intrigues at the court of Henri II are historical figures – except the heroine herself, La Princesse de Clèves.

Enjoy discovering new French authors in our catalog!

Leo Tolstoy, a nobleman turned social reformer in his later years, is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. This makes it difficult to choose from his work, but War and Peace, an epic novel spanning 15 years, is probably his masterpiece.

Another one of the great Russian authors is Fyodor Dostoyevsky. He wrote his first of 11 novels at age 25, and his books were translated into more than 170 languages. We have not done all of them yet, but his short novel Белые ночи – White Nights we can offer to you in Russian, English, and German.

Germany and France were the countries where Ivan Turgenev preferred to live. The son of landowners was opposed to serfdom, and his first collection of stories A Sportsman’s Sketches, detailing the lives of the poor, is a milestone in Russian realism.

Lev Shestov is another expatriate, but instead of leaving voluntarily, he had to flee in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. The main work of the then well-known existentialist is All Things Are Possible, or Apotheosis of Groundlessness from 1905.

The revolution caused many people to leave their homes. Roman Gul was conscripted into the Tsarist Army in 1916, but joined the White Volunteer Army only a year later. He took part in the Ice March (Ледяной поход) of 1918, one of the defining moments in the Russian Civil War.

Even when it was over, things did not settle down, and regime critics were persecuted for decades. One of them was Osip Mandelstam, forced into exile within Russia in 1934, and sentenced to correction camp in 1938, where he died the same year. The Stone – Камень is his first poetry collection from 1916.

The anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, one of the most famous European activists of his time, also had his own thoughts about God and the State. This text is fragmentary and for this reason not easy to read, but it is still one of the best explanations of the anarchist philosophy of history.

Back to the Silver Age of Russian history, and to Leonid Andreyev. Coming from a middle class family, he eventually became the most prolific and representative writer of short stories of this age. His last work is Satan’s Diary about an unfortunate holiday trip the devil takes in Europe.

The physician Anton Chekhov is the author of what critics believe are the best short stories in history. He also wrote numerous plays in realist style, and the one-act play Der Bär, by himself called a joke, deals with the visit of a money lender to a recently widowed woman. An English version is available.

Katerina, Die Lady Makbeth des Mzensker Landkreises, will not wait until her husband dies before taking a lover, and from there things go downhill. This is one of the major works of Nikolai Leskov, who was praised for his unique writing style even by some of the more famous writers mentioned above.

Enjoy finding new Russian authors in our catalog!

LibriVox is 10 years old, and this year we’ll highlight our contributions to literature from all over the world. Let’s start with 10 gems from our catalog devoted to American authors.

When Emerson felt the need to find a uniquely American poet, Walt Whitman stepped up to the challenge, and devoted his life to Leaves of Grass. First published in 1855, the collection grew from 12 to 400 poems in the Deathbed Edition of 1892.

Equally famous and prolific was Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. She published more than 350 short stories and 20 novels; the most famous one being Anne of Green Gables. The spunky heroine has inspired our readers to no less than 7 versions, this is our dramatic reading.

A lot of drama can be found in the books by Anna Katharine Green, one of the first writers of detective fiction in America, rivaling even Conan Doyle. Of her 40 highly acclaimed books, That Affair Next Door introduces nosy spinster sleuth Miss Emilia Butterworth.

Two elderly spinsters play a supporting role in the love story between Rodolfo and Angelina. The book was written by Rafael Delgado, a Mexican poet and novelist from Cordoba, who became a member of the Mexican Academy of Letters when he was in his early 40s.

Honoré Beaugrand fought in the Mexican Intervention before becoming a writer in the US, buying a newspaper in Ottawa, and finally being elected mayor of Montreal. His version of La Chasse-Galerie, a French-Canadian legend of an unwise deal with the devil, is the best known one.

Another politician boasted equally varied interests and achievements: The lifelong naturalist Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest US president at his election. His public addresses and essays are collected in The Strenuous Life.

Certainly so was the life of Charles Alexander Eastman, born as Ohiyesa. The Native American writer and reformer strove throughout his life for the rights of the American Natives and better opportunities for their youth. From the Deep Woods to Civilisation is the second part of his autobiography.

Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins writes from a similar point of view. She was once considered the most prolific female African American writer and a sought-after editor. Her first novel Contending Forces explores the difficulties of black people in post Civil War America.

Fitting to the above is The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice. Although best known for his humorous pieces, The Canadian Stephen Leacock – the most widely read English speaking author 1910-1925 – held a doctorate in political science and political economy.

Gertrude Atherton a was strong willed and independent minded woman. Despite being ostracized by her family for becoming an author, she wrote more than 50 novels, mainly set in California. In The Avalanche, a once highly eligible bachelor resolves in his fourth year of marriage to unveil the mystery of his wife’s past.

Enjoy finding new American authors in our catalog!

Robert Bruce is driven from Scotland by the English. When he tries to return, he lands on hostile shores, and immediately polarises a wedding party. Will he find enough support to become The Lord of the Isles? Read the narrative poem by Sir Walter Scott for the historical details.

Not only war drives people from their homes. As The Flood slowly rises in the village of Saint-Jory and destroys the wealthy farm of the Roubien family, they must leave. This short story of man’s defeat at the merciless hand of nature is told masterfully by Emile Zola.

Wouldn’t it be good if we knew about such catastrophes in advance? As a form of self-help, people have always resorted to things like Tea Cup Reading and Fortune-Telling By Tea Leaves. In this little book, A Highland Seer teaches his craft to anybody interested.

Equally fantastic is the story of Master Flea, who escapes a flea circus and takes refuge in Peregrinus’ house. The pretty Dörtje tries to find him, but isn’t she really a princess from Famagusta? E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story – also available in German – mixes fantasy and reality.

Safely rooted in reality is the life of My Ántonia, the eldest daughter of Bohemian immigrants, who just arrived in rural Nebraska. Neighbour Jim, who is smitten with her, watches over her ups and downs in the book by Willa Sibert Cather.

A much more complicated web of love forms around the Exiles Rowan and Bertha upon their return to England. In the play by James Joyce, everybody seems to love the one person they cannot be with. Probably, the two would have preferred to stay in Rome after all.

What does become of those that stay behind when everybody is leaving? George Moore describes the aftermath of the Irish mass emigration of the 19th century, and the hold of the clergy on those who remained, in his collection of short stories The Untilled Field.

Those who leave are often torn between their old culture and new influences. Israel Zangwill describes the life of Children of the Ghetto in the London Jewish East End of the 1890′s, where they must navigate between Eastern European traditions and attempts of assimilation.

When Edward A. Steiner had to make the same decision, his choice was clear. His way From Alien to Citizen led him from hard labour in immigrant sweat shops to becoming a Christian minister and immigration scholar at an American university.

People in need often seek solace in religion. Hundreds of religions are practised today, but at this time of the year, let us highlight Christianity with our reading of The Gospel of Luke, from the King James Version.

Enjoy – and may there be shelter when you need it!

Jules Verne knew a lot of science, and the Baltimore Gun Club uses it to construct a cannon to shoot people From the Earth to the Moon. The calculations are almost correct – and the cannon was even positioned near Cape Canaveral!

Johannes Kepler probably didn’t even dream of space travel, or rather: When he did, he imagined suns and planets. You can read about his life and how his laws changed astronomy for good in the biography by Walter W. Bryant.

Discovering the laws of nature is the foremost task of a scientist. In the delightful book The Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children by Jane Andrews we hear about various animals and plants, as well as interesting natural phenomena.

Mother Nature is not always that forthcoming though, and then people speak of the supernatural. Not so Mr. Bell, who is A Master of Mysteries and proves that behind every ghost and haunted house is a scientific explanation. Read more about him in the book by L. T. Meade and Robert Eustache.

The power of science also plays a large role in our play by Benito Perez Galdos. The orphan Electra falls in love with scientist Maximo. All would be well, would not rumours about Electra’s parentage threaten their relationship. Will the powers of love be stronger?

The answer is no, at least when it comes to the poem “The Mathematician in Love” by W. J. M. Rankine; which shows that even scientists make mistakes. More poems about science by various scientists can be found in our Selection of 19th Century Scientific Verse.

More scientific mistakes were colleced by John Phin in his book The Seven Follies of Science. He describes well known problems like the search for a perpetuum mobile, and proves in an easy way why all of those are scientifically impossible.

Much less obvious is why Mr. Challoner owns a collection of mammals with physical deformities, but also 24 perfectly normal human skeletons. What is the secret behind them, and what has The Uttermost Farthing to do with it? Find out in the book by R. Austin Freeman.

Even if you don’t have a passion like the above mentioned, a knowledge of the Anatomy of the Human Body is always useful. Browse through our 1918 US Edition of the standard text by Henry Gray, which is still in print and use today.

And where will science go tomorrow? Hopefully not in the direction envisioned by Philip K. Dick in Second Variety. A nuclear war forces the UN government to retreat to the moon and build war machines. However, after six years of fighting, the self-replicating “Claws” have evolved…

Enjoy – and stay curious!

Poverty pushes people to the fringes of society. D. H. Lawrence paints a sensitive picture of the ones that usually go unnoticed in urban life, in this case just before the beginning of WWI, in his poem Embankment at Night, Before the War: Outcasts.

A haunting description of the abject living conditions and rampant violence in the East End of London is A Child of the Jago. The novel by Arthur Morrison takes his cues from real life in the Old Nichol Street Rookery.

There is always somebody profiting from people’s misery, and Harry Trench is shocked when he finds out that his fiance’s father is one of them. However, he is not quite in the position to take the high road in George Bernard Shaw’s unpleasant play Widowers’ Houses.

Hunger is a terrible feeling, and the unnamed protagonist of Knut Hamsun’s novel is suffering greatly. His physical and mental breakdown and his resulting delusional existence are realistically detailed, after all, they are loosely based on the author’s own experience.

Openly autobiographic is John Barleycorn or Alcoholic Memoirs by Jack London. The famous author recounts his life as an addict, both the phases of white light alcoholic inspiration and lucidity, and the brutal negative effects brought on by his so called best friend.

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets has only one place to go when her alcoholic mother turns her out of the house. Find out whether her life improves when she seeks shelter with her boyfriend in the first novel by Stephen Crane.

A voluntary descent among the lower classes was undertaken by Robert Louis Stevenson on his 1879 trip from Glasgow to the US. Buying almost the cheapest ticket available, he documents his encounters with the poorest of passengers in The Amateur Emigrant.

Once off the boat, life does not miraculously improve though, especially when you are the target of racism. Mark Twain, in his famous satirical fashion, highlights the bad treatment of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco in Goldsmith’s Friend Abroad Again.

Frank Owen knows how to make things better, and he tries to convice his fellow workers that the root of their poverty lies in capitalism. Will he succeed to convert his friends to the socialist cause in the famous novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell?

Poverty is not the end though, often work and will are much more important. Sarah Knowles Bolton recounts 28 Lives of Poor Boys Who Became Famous, among them Samuel Johnson, Mozart, Oliver Goldsmith, and Abraham Lincoln.

Enjoy – and enough for everybody!