Originally published in November 2018, Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming was easily one of the biggest books of the year and topped the charts upon its debut. Obama’s audiobook recording was nominated during the 2020 Grammy awards for best spoken word album, which is open to works of poetry, audiobooks, and storytelling. The former First Lady has since won the award, which no doubt caps off an incredible year for Becoming.
The other nominees included John Walters for Mr. Know-It-All, I.V. Catatonia: 20 Years as a Two-Time Cancer Survivor by Eric Alexandrakis, Beastie Boys Book by various artists including Beastie Boys Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz and Sekou Andrews and the String Theory for Sekou Andrews and the String Theory.
Becoming was the top-selling audiobook on Audible in the UK for 2019 and spent seven months in the top spot. It has sold over 700,000 copies in the UK alone and won the Non-Fiction Narrative Book of the Year, as well as Audiobook of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards.
Obama is not the first First Lady to have won a Grammy in this category. In 1997, Hillary Clinton won for her book It Takes a Village. Michelle’s husband, Barack Obama, won the award twice. Once in 2006 for his book Dreams of my Father, and again in 2008 for The Audacity of Hope.
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