On March 9th we held a virtual discussion with author Phillip Goodrich and audiobook producer and director May Wuthrich on their Audiobook Original, Somersett: Benjamin Franklin and the Masterminding of American Independence.
View the event recording:
Author Phillip Goodrich and audiobook producer and director May Wuthrich (an old Greenwich resident) discuss adapting and producing the award-winning full cast recording of Goodrich’s nonfiction title, Somersett: Benjamin Franklin and the Masterminding of American Independence.
Part courtroom drama, and part political thriller, five actors bring over thirty historical characters to life in a powerful dramatization of this little-known story of the founding of our country. James Somersett, mentioned in Nikole Hannah-Jones and the New York Times’ 1619 Project, became the first enslaved person freed by the British Supreme Court. Pursued behind-the-scenes by Franklin and an inner circle of highly placed London abolitionists, this judgment became an important motivating factor in convincing reluctant slaveholders to join the Revolution.
The book, formerly published under a different title, has been updated and expanded to reflect the changes made for the audio production and will be available in print and ebook editions after February 28th.
The audiobook has garnered much praise, including an Earphones Award from AudioFile Magazine, which also named it a Best Audiobook of 2021. It is a Gold Winner from the Hear Now Festival, a finalist for The Society of Voice Arts and Sciences (SOVAS) 8th annual Voice Arts® Awards in the History/Biography category, and most recently a 2022 Audio Publishers Association (APA) Audie Award finalist in the same category.
Short audio clips from the program will be featured in the event.
Learn more about the speakers here:
