John Benjamin Hickey to Narrate John Irving's New Audiobook, IN ONE PERSON

Simon & Schuster Audio today announced that Tony Award-winning actor John Benjamin Hickey will narrate John Irving's highly anticipated audiobook, IN ONE PERSON, due out May 8, 2012. The audiobook will be available unabridged in both CD and download formats.

Hickey, who received a 2011 Tony Award for his appearance in The Normal Heart on Broadway and currently appears on Showtime's The Big C, makes his debut as an audiobook narrator with this publication.

"I have been a fan of Mr. Irving's for many years, so being asked to read his new book was such an honor," says Hickey. "The book has the most extraordinary spirit, filled with all the things that has made his writing mean so much to so many over the years, but with a completely new, fresh take on the universe that is humane, funny, and very moving. It was a thrill for me to be a part of it."

John Irving adds, "It wasn't hard for me to embrace the idea of John Benjamin Hickey as the reader for the audio version of my novel IN ONE PERSON. I love his work, and I'd recently seen him onstage as the doomed Felix in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart. The main character, and first-person narrator, of IN ONE PERSON is a bisexual man -- Billy Abbot is a sexual outsider, or misfit, who becomes growingly confident about who he is, sexually. But Billy's coming-of-age period, his sexual self-discovery, comprises more than half the novel. I think John Benjamin Hickey does a fabulous job of inhabiting Billy's sexual uncertainty -- in Billy's early years -- and Billy's self-confidence as an older man. This is more than a loss-of-innocence story; my narrator is on a collision course with the AIDS epidemic, and John Benjamin Hickey tells his story very, very well."

"In audio publishing there are times when the novel and narrator come together to create something truly special," says Chris Lynch, Executive Vice President & Publisher of Simon & Schuster Audio. "John Benjamin Hickey's reading of John Irving's latest masterwork IN ONE PERSON is a beautiful example of that. It is an unforgettable listening experience."

Described as "tragic, funny, and heartfelt, IN ONE PERSON will surely be one of this summer's not-to-miss audiobooks." For more information on the audiobook and an exclusive video interview with John Benjamin Hickey, visit: http://pages.simonandschuster.com/in-one-person-audiobook/.

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