Listen: Barbra Streisand Reads An Excerpt From MY NAME IS BARBRA Audiobook

Barbra Streisand is a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment, and this engrossing and delightful audiobook will be eagerly welcomed by her millions of fans. Dozens of books have been written about Streisand and her career, and now in My Name Is Barbra, she tells her story in her own words.

In this first listen from the audiobook, you will hear Barbra talk about what prompted her to finally write her memoir, and reconciling her private self with the public persona. 

The audiobook, narrated by Barbra, is a production in itself, with additional content and musical asides. While recording, Barbra added more color and background to her stories, resulting in over 50 ad libs exclusive to the audiobook. There are also musical excerpts spanning her entire oeuvre, from her movies, albums, and Broadway productions. The over 40 songs include The Way We Were, Woman in Love, Evergreen, as well as songs from the movies Yentl and Funny Girl and many more. Listeners will also hear a surprise guest voice as Stephen Colbert makes a special appearance to introduce the audiobook and narrate the credits. With a runtime of over 48 hours, this is the longest author-read memoir that Penguin Random House Audio has ever produced and is a true testament to Barbra's incredible life and career. 

Listen to an excerpt:

Barbra Streisand's achievements as a singer, actor, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and songwriter, have been rewarded with two Oscars, five Emmys, ten GRAMMYs, including the Legend Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award, a Tony Award, eleven Golden Globes, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award, three Peabody Awards, and the Directors Guild of America Award for her 1994 TV special, Barbra: The Concert. With Yentl, she became the first woman to direct, produce, write, and star in a major motion picture, and the first woman to win a Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Likewise, she is the first female composer to receive an Academy Award for Best Original Song, for “Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born).”

Barbra has also received the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award and the Kennedy Center Honors. She's been awarded the National Medal of Arts from President Clinton, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama, and France's Légion d'Honneur.    

Throughout her life, Barbra has been a passionate advocate for the causes she believes in. She created the Streisand Foundation to advance her philanthropic interests, ranging from gender equality, human rights, and voting rights, to protecting our environment and heeding the dangers of nuclear proliferation. She founded the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai to support research and raise awareness about women's heart disease. Recently, she has endowed the Barbra Streisand Institute at UCLA, to examine the critical issues of our time such as truth in the public sphere, the impact of climate change, the dynamics of intimacy and power between women and men, and the impact of art on the culture.