In alphabetical order:
Lily Baron
Bookspace Cardiff - independent bookseller
Lily Baron is a bookseller and the owner of Book Space Cardiff, a general indie bookshop with something for everyone! Lily tries to read a bit of everything but has a particular interest in translated fiction. She is a long time lover of physical books and a more recent convert to audio. She believes that the purpose of books, and stories in general, is to connect us as people and loves that she gets to be a part of those connections. Find out what's going on at the shop @BookSpaceCardiff
James Bartlett (online)
Head of reader services at RNIB
James Bartlett, Reading Services Manager, RNIB. James joined RNIB as part of specialist transcription converting print into braille. James currently leads RNIB Reading Services which encompasses RNIB’s Talking Books, Braille Library, Newsagent, and RNIB Bookshare which supports people in education. James is the current secretary of the special interest group Libraries for People with Disabilities (LPD) which is part of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA).
Dominic Bascombe
Equity
Dominic Bascombe is the regional official for North East, Yorkshire and Humber for Equity, the performers’ union (bio tbc)
Melanie Crawley
Audiobook Narrator, Equity
Melanie Crawley is an actor and Earphones award-winning audiobook narrator. Working across multiple genres she has narrated 160+ books and works from her studio for clients including Penguin, Dreamscape & Harper Collins and directly with independent authors.
An active member of the UK narrator community she has set up and operates a number of supportive initiatives online and in-person and works with Equity to investigate how narrators can secure a better deal from publishers.
In 2025 she founded the Audiobook Working Group for Audio UK in order to raise the status of British audiobook production and professional narrators in the industry.
Liz Femi
Author and Narrator
Liz Femi is a Nigerian-American writer, actor, and audiobook narrator. A 2024 Pushcart Prize winner for poetry, 2025 Best New Poet nominee, her work has been published in New Orleans Review, Michigan Quarterly, Diode, Wild Roof Journal, Stone Poetry Quarterly, West Trade Review, Good River Review and others. Liz's audiobook narration titles include Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Black Sunday, Blood Scion, Patience is a Subtle Thief, and Death of the Author, which won an Earphone Award from AudioFile Magazine. She is also a 2025 Sundance Fellow.
Ellen Forget (online)
Audiobook and disabilities research
Ellen Forget is an Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Scholar at University of Alberta. Ellen works at the intersection of book history, disability studies, and digital humanities. Their current project is titled "A History of Tactile Writing and Reading," and their doctoral thesis was about accessibility in contemporary publishing, which analyzed production methods and materiality of born-accessible books (including braille, ebook, and audiobook formats) and how disabled readers access books.
Patricia Frazis
Audiobook academic
Patricia Frazis is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University in Canberra. Her research uses close listening and creative practice methodologies to develop a framework for audiobook analysis, aiming to further our understanding of the ways through which audiobooks can create meaning. Patricia has published academic and literary book reviews in Publishing Research Quarterly and Westerly Magazine, and has an article forthcoming in 2027 in Logos about the emerging audiobook market in Greece.
Tilly Guthrie
Organiser and moderator
Tilly Guthrie is a final-year PhD student in History at the University of Sheffield. Her thesis examines tactile alphabets and cultures of correspondence in the nineteenth-century British blind community. Tilly has worked closely with the RNIB and the Braillists Foundation to raise awareness of the history of tactile reading.
Danny Hitzelberger
Libro fm - digital audiobook retailer
Danny Hitzelberger is the Team Lead in the CX team at Libro.fm and has been with the company for 2 years. Born and raised in Southern Germany, Danny moved two the UK 14 years ago to study Music, and is currently living in Brighton, UK with his wife and two cats.
Yara Rodrigues Fowler
Author
Yara Rodrigues Fowler is from South London. Her first novel, Stubborn Archivist, was published in 2019 and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Desmond Elliot Prize, and Yara was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 2019. Yara’s second novel, there are more things, was published in 2022 and nominated for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and Goldsmiths Prize. It was one of the Sunday Times, BBC Culture and New Statesman’s books of the Year. In 2023, Yara was chosen as one of Granta's 'Best Young British Novelists' in their once-a-decade list.
Dave Williams
Accessibility advocate and Braillists Foundation Chair
Dave Williams is an experienced specialist in accessible technology, media relations, and inclusive design. For 25 years Dave has worked to advance accessibility for blind people. His professional background spans audio production, community media, agile design, and digital product testing, informed by his lived experience as a blind parent, international marathon runner, and award-winning volunteer.
During his tenure as RNIB’s Inclusive Design Ambassador, Dave spearheaded impactful initiatives that championed braille and tactile literacy, independence, and inclusion. Dave has represented the UK on the Board of the DAISY Consortium and has been an active member of the European Blind Union Braille Working Group. Dave was recently named University College London’s Community Tutor of the Year for his inclusive communication workshops for medical students, and in 2023 he received a Point of Light award from the UK Prime Minister for work with the Braillists Foundation spreading braille and tactile literacy.
Dikko Yusuf
Audiobook academic
Dikko Yusuf is a PhD student at the University of Leeds, where his research focuses on methodologies for analysing African audiobooks. His work sits at the intersection of media, translation, and literary studies, exploring how diverse media forms, including radio and television programming, documentaries, video streaming platforms, and podcasts, can inform and enrich the analysis of audiobooks. Dikko has presented his research at academic conferences and public forums in Nairobi, Switzerland, and Michigan, advocating for innovative approaches to literary analysis and promoting an accessible reading culture.