AFB To Cybercast Talking Book
                          Narrator Awards Ceremony
                             Live via RealAudio
                              June 8 & 9, 1998
     _________________________________________________________________

   Contents
          1) About the 1998 Scourby Awards
          2) The Envelope, Please...
          3) About the Cybercast
          4) Download Real Player
     _________________________________________________________________

   For the first time since its inception, fans of Talking Books from
   around the country will be able to listen to the 1998 Alexander
   Scourby Narrator of the Year Awards ceremony live as it is broadcast
   over the Internet via RealAudio. The ceremony will be held June 8,
   1998 at 5:30 p.m. at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Seventh
   Avenue at 32nd Street, in Manhattan, New York. Hall of Fame
   sportscaster Bob Wolff will serve as Master of Ceremonies.

   Talking Books, which celebrates its 65th anniversary this year,
   provides recorded literature to 750,000 blind, visually impaired, and
   physically disabled Americans. The program, which originated in 1933
   with the American Foundation for the Blind's invention of the
   long-playing phonograph record, is administered by the National
   Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) of the
   Library of Congress.

   The Alexander Scourby Narrator of the Year Awards were established by
   AFB in 1986 in memory of its most popular Talking Book narrator. The
   event also celebrates the contribution of Talking Books to the cause
   of literacy for blind people, and award presenters (who are visually
   impaired) will speak about the importance of reading in their lives.
   The highlight of the evening features award recipients giving readings
   from favorite works they have recorded.

   Three awards will be presented -- in the categories of fiction,

non-fiction, and a special award this year, periodicals.
            ____________________________________________________

The Envelope, Please...
The Winners of the 1998 Alexander Scourby Awards

   Graeme Malcolm
          This year's fiction award recipient is Graeme Malcolm, a
          narrator at AFB's New York City studios since 1984. He has
          recorded over 200 books, including such favorites as Rudyard
          Kipling's The Jungle Book, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Body
          Snatcher, Joseph Conrad's Great Short Works, and several works
          by Shakespeare.

          An accomplished actor, Malcolm has appeared in such Broadway
          hits as The King and I and M. Butterfly, television shows such
          as Law and Order; and Guiding Light, and in numerous regional
          theater and British theater productions. He has also been a
          voice and speech teacher at Vassar and Rutgers Universities,
          and at the American Music and Drama Academy.
            ____________________________________________________

   Mimi Bederman
          In the non-fiction category, the winner is Mimi Bederman, who
          has served as a volunteer narrator for Insight for the Blind in
          Ft. Lauderdale, FL for 20 years. She has narrated over 300
          books, including such notable titles as The History of the U.S.
          Postal Service, by N. O. Bolick, the biography Amy Tan, by
          Barbara Kramer, Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? and Other
          Imponderables of Everyday Life, by David Feldman, and Stay Me,
          Oh Comfort Me, by M.F.K. Fisher.

          Bederman attended Carlton College in Northfield, MN and
          Northwestern University in Evanston, IL where she studied
          liberal arts. She and her husband are the founders for The
          Foundation for Independent Living in Ft. Lauderdale, a
          residential facility for learning-disabled young adults.
            ____________________________________________________

   Jake Williams
          The recipient in periodicals is Jake Williams, a narrator at
          Talking Book Publishers, Inc. in Denver, CO, since 1985. He
          narrates such popular magazines as American Heritage, Sports
          Illustrated, The Atlantic Monthly, Civilization, and U.S. News
          & World Report. He has also recorded over 100 books, including
          Karl Marx's Capital in its entirety, My American Journey, by
          Colin Powell, and His Holiness, by Carl Woodward and Marco
          Politi. Williams also served for 10 years as the radio and
          television voice of the Denver Symphony Orchestra, and has
          served as public affairs director for classical radio station
          KVOD in Denver. Williams has also been a volunteer narrator at
          the Denver studio of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic,
          and served as its board chairman from 1993-1995.
            ____________________________________________________

About the Cybercast

   The Scourby Awards will be broadcast live, over the Internet, via
   RealAudio at 5:30 p.m. (EDT) on Monday, June 8, 1998. You will be able
   to access the Real Audio feed from:

     http://www.afb.org/scourby98.html

   Rebroadcasts of the ceremony will be available on demand, beginning at
   9:00 p.m. (EDT), Monday, June 8, until 11:00 a.m. (EDT), Wednesday,
   June 10.

   In order to listen to the cybercast of the 1998 Alexander Scourby
   Awards, you need to have RealPlayer installed on your computer. If you
   do not already have a copy of RealPlayer, you can use AFB's
   universally accessible download form to obtain a copy of
   RealPlayer.