Publisher Description
Artists in Ukraine have lost their livelihoods. The Ukraine Audiobook Relief Project was launched to support artists in Ukraine whose lives are threatened because of war.
It is a fundamental aspect of war to suppress story, language, and culture. Moved by this crisis of culture, members of PANA (the Professional Audiobook Narrators Association) created this audiobook to raise money for Ukrainian relief. Joined by writers and musicians, we have volunteered our work to show our support for artists living through war.
The profits from the sale of this audiobook will provide financial support to the Artists at Risk Connection in Ukraine through PEN America, a non-profit organization that endeavors to safeguard the right to artistic freedom of expression and ensure that artists and cultural professionals everywhere can live and work without fear. We urge you to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine by supporting its artists.
The folk wisdom of Ukraine includes this expression: “A word is not a sparrow … once it flies out, you won’t catch it."
A Word Is Not A Sparrow is a diverse anthology of stories set amid Russian repression through the centuries; personal narrator testimony about the impact in America of immigrant grandparents from Ukraine and elsewhere; powerful fables and allegories that deliver universal messages about displacement, migration, and human connection; and classic Cossack folk tales that are a touchstone of Ukrainian culture. Listen as we let these words fly out around the world.
Narrated by PANA member volunteers Barry Abrams, Jennifer Jill Araya, Dave Arlington, Rosemary Benson, Anna Crowe, Claudia Dunn, Andrea Emmes, Gary Furlong, Rebecca Gallagher, Caroline Hewitt, Susan Iannucci, Elizabeth Jasicki, Tom Jordan, Jennifer March, Janet Metzger, Rich Miller, Erin Moon, Sara Morsey, Traci Odom, Sheri Saginor and Tiffany Williams.
Music by Michael Nazaretz & the Samovar Russian Folk Ensemble, Jeff Crompton, Roger French, and Kenny Raskin.
Writers include Barry Abrams, Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh, Andrea Emmes and Karen Bogle, Vladislav Davidzon, Christopher Dewees, Thaisa Frank, Teresa Johnson, Alla Kudzieva, Taras Shevchenko, and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.
Download and start listening now!
About the Authors
Bob Souer is a full-time professional storyteller, voice actor, and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. He has narrated broadcast and nonbroadcast projects for corporations and ministries across North America. His voice has been heard on PBS, the History Channel, the Military Channel, and many other networks. He has also narrated radio and television programs for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, D. James Kennedy Ministries, SIM, and Compassion International.
Barry Abrams has narrated and produced audiobooks for a variety of publishers. Since 2012, he has also hosted and produced ESPN’s In the Gate podcast. Based in Danbury, Connecticut, he also engineers and calls live webcasts of his son’s ice hockey games.
Andrea Emmes is an actress and audiobook narrator. She started as a SAG-AFTRA equity actor and has been performing for over twenty years on stage, TV, and film. She is an Audible Approved Narrator known as “the Girl with a Thousand Voices,” her wide range of character voices and dynamic, emotionally invested performances has reviewers and listeners alike commenting on how she effortlessly pulls listeners in, has versatility and charisma, and is quite suited for young adult literature. She has won the LA Music Award for Best Contemporary Christian Artist for her 2008 debut release album I’m On My Way.” She earned an AA in fine arts and a BS in art and design.
Marsha Forchik Skrypuch is a Ukrainian Canadian author acclaimed for her nonfiction and historical fiction, including Making Bombs for Hitler, The War Below, Stolen Child, and Don’t Tell the Enemy. Visit her online at www.calla.com.
About the Narrators
Jennifer Jill Araya has been trained as an opera singer and orchestral cellist, lending a musicality and depth of understanding to her narration that help bring her authors’ stories to life. When she’s not narrating, Jennifer can be found hiking, biking, running, or generally exploring her home city of Cincinnati with her husband, Arturo, and their two children.
Rosemary Benson is a voice talent and audiobook narrator whose lifetime of live performance includes musical and audience interactive theater, cabaret, touring with bands and ensembles internationally, recording, and hosting special events.
Anna Crowe is a voice talent and the narrator of more than 100 fiction and nonfiction audiobooks.
Gary Furlong grew up in Wexford, Ireland. Throughout his life he has worn many hats working as a teacher, puppeteer, improv artist, actor, and singer. He can perform in general British, general American, and an Irish accent to a native level and can speak Japanese fluently. He now works full time as an audiobook narrator and voice actor from his home in Ireland.
Rebecca
Gallagher is an acclaimed voice-over artist with experience in commercials and
audiobook narration. She was nominated for an Audie Award in 2010.
Caroline Hewitt loves reading and imagining. Since she couldn’t figure out a way to actually jump inside a novel, acting and adapting are the closest, and most satisfying, ways she has found to inhabit stories—like narrating audiobooks and adapting novels into plays.
Susan Iannucci is a full-time narrator and voice-over actor working from California. She has been producing multi-cast productions for several years along with her own solo narrations. Pulling together multi-cast projects with actors throughout the world continues to be a great challenge and thoroughly rewarding.
Elizabeth Jasicki is an actress, voice-over artist, and audiobook narrator. She is known for her role in the film Merry Christmas and her performance in the critically acclaimed video game Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony.
Janet Metzger, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, has performed as a stage, television, voice, and film actor and as a jazz vocalist in hotels and supper clubs. For five years she was the voice of Headline News, now HLN, during which time she also promoted features and news stories for CNN and CNN International. She is a graduate of Florida State University.
Rich Miller, a man whose heart beats for renewal and revival in the church, serves as president and a speaker for Freedom in Christ Ministries. He has coauthored Getting Anger Under Control and Grace That Breaks the Chains, as well as authoring 40 Days of Grace and the youth book To My Dear Slimeball. He and his wife live in the mountains of western North Carolina.
Erin Moon is a professional actor and an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator of over 150 novels. She lives and records in beautiful Vancouver, Canada.
Romy Nordlinger is a New York City–based actress. As an audiobook narrator, she has recorded nearly a hundred titles, ranging from romance and
self-help to science fiction and mystery. Her television credits include roles on Law
& Order and One
Life to Live. She is a member and committee head of the League of
Professional Theatre Women and has appeared in hundreds of off-Broadway and
regional theater productions and readings. She has also done voice-over work for numerous commercials, industrials, and public service announcements.
Tiffany Williams is a voice talent and an audiobook narrator.
James Langton, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, trained as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and later as a musician at the Guildhall School in London. He has worked in radio, film, and television, also appearing in theater in England and on Broadway. He is also a professional musician who led the internationally renowned Pasadena Roof Orchestra from 1996 to 2002.