Liverpool University Press is pleased to announce the publication of its first audiobook: The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript in Modern English Prose Translation. The audiobook is based on Malcolm Andrew and Ronald Waldron’s fifth edition of the work, and will be available as a whole and also as the four individual poems in the work – Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The audiobook is narrated by the medievalist and broadcaster Professor Sarah Peverley of the University of Liverpool, and introduced by Joshua Lambie.

The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript in Modern English Prose Translation offers a near-literal translation of what is widely considered as one of the masterpieces of Middle English literature. Andrew and Waldron’s translation has been the key edition for students for over thirty years. This audio edition will continue to aid understanding and accessibility of these important texts which are so regularly used across a range of Medieval Studies courses.

Senior Commissioning Editor Clare Litt said “We are hugely excited to be launching our first audiobooks, which are among the first academic audiobooks to be released by a British university press, and the first academic audio editions of these important medieval texts. Our aim is to make them more accessible to students and a wider audience. Part of LUP’s mission is to innovate and explore new ways to disseminate and encourage study – the ever-growing popularity of audiobooks makes them a fantastic medium for doing this, and we look forward to developing our audio collection further.”

Narrator Professor Sarah Peverley said “Students and tutors of the medieval period will benefit from the translation’s fidelity to the original Middle English poetry, while members of the general public will be able to enjoy listening to four fascinating texts that illuminate late medieval culture. The translations capture the richness of the original poems, which were written in the North West of England. Pearl is particularly poignant as it centres on a grief-stricken father coming to terms with the loss of his young daughter, while Sir Gawain and the Green Knight evokes the frosty splendour of the Christmas season as a knight of King Arthur’s court undertakes a strange quest.”

Further information on the audiobook can be found on our website.