Laurence Fishburne Tapped To Narrate Seminal ‘Autobiography Of Malcolm X’ For Audible!
THeRoot.com, By Karu F, Daniels, Posted March 27th 2020
Furious Styles will bring his furious style to one of the greatest stories ever told.
No, not the Bible.
Another one — considered one of the most important memoirs written within the past century.
Emmy and Tony award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne has signed on to narrate The Autobiography of Malcolm X for Audible.
Marking the very first time that Alex Hailey-scripted tome will be available via unabridged audio since its original publication in 1965, the audiobook will be released on May 19th, which would’ve been the late, great civil rights activist’s 95th birthday.
“It’s a great honor to have the opportunity to tell Malcolm X’s story,” Fishburne said, with the official announcement of the project.
“This is a man who lived multiple lifetimes in the span of 40 years. An inspiration, The Autobiography of Malcolm X remains a definitive statement within an ever-evolving civil rights and human rights movement. It was a huge responsibility to take on this project and I feel privileged to take Audible listeners on this profound journey.”
The 58-year-old thespian – with an illustrious career spanning five decades in film, television and theater – Fishburne is recognized mostly for his work as the patriarch Jason “Furious” Styles Jr. in John Singleton’s 1991 classic Boyz N the Hood, Morpheus in The Matrix films and as Ike Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It, for which he won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Leading Actor.
Currently executive producing and starring in ABC’s Black-ish, the Augusta, Georgia native is currently gearing up for a lead role in David Mamet’s American Buffalo on Broadway.
This summer, Fishburne will serve as host of History channel’s docu-series History’s Greatest Mysteries.
Published posthumously after his assassination, The Autobiography of Malcom X was written with Alex Hailey (of Roots fame) and has been considered “required reading” by Time magazine.
Spike Lee, who used the book as source material for his 1992 biopic, Malcolm X, said the it was “the most important book” he will ever read.
“It changed the way I thought, it changed the way I acted. It has given me courage I didn’t know I had inside me. I’m one of hundreds of thousands whose lives were changed for the better.”
“For the first time in history, listeners will be able to hear Malcolm X’s powerful story, one that has inspired generations of people, performed by the legendary Laurence Fishburne,” Audible’s SVP Content Acquisition and Development Rachel Ghiazza said. “Audible is proud to be a home to this extraordinary narrative – one of the most important nonfiction works of the 20th century – and to continue to amplify voices that need to be heard.”
Audible, a subsidiary of the superpower known as Amazon, recently inked a partnership with football player and activist Colin Kaepernick to release his memoir later this year.
Last fall, the company released the best selling Sophia Chang biography The Baddest Bitch in the Room, which became a Ne best seller.
Fishburne’s Audible-exclusive performance of The Autobiography of Malcolm X is now available for preorder and will be released on May 19th, 2020 – what would have been Malcolm X’s 95th birthday
Hailing from “the thorough borough” of Brooklyn, Mr. Daniels has written for The New York Times, Associated Press, CNN, Essence, VIBE, NBC News, The Daily Beast, The New York Daily News and Word Up!
