Kelly Gildea is Director of Audio Production and Creative Partner Development at Penguin Random House Audio. She has collaborated with hundreds of authors over the years, including John Updike; Elie Wiesel; Jimmy Carter; Stephen King; Jennifer Lopez; Lupita Nyong’o; Megan, Duchess of Sussex; and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. She was the recipient of two Odyssey Awards, for Scowler (2014) and Rotters (2012), both authored by Daniel Kraus. She produced and directed Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, which was the 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Her work has also garnered three GRAMMY nominations, most recently in 2021, for E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, narrated by Meryl Streep and a full cast.

Along with her colleague Amber Beard, Kelly spearheads the Penguin Random House Audio Narrator Mentorship Program, which helps to identify and nurture upcoming and underrepresented talent.