Michelle Obama Joins Maya Angelou As the Only Women in GRAMMYs History to Win Multiple Best Audio Book Awards

Since it was first handed out in 1959, the Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording GRAMMY (previously known as Best Spoken Word Album) has celebrated the audio versions of some of modern history’s best books and authors.

Before the show’s 66th annual ceremony, only 4 people could boast having earned multiple wins in the category. That changed Sunday night (February 4) thanks to former First Lady Michelle Obama‘s 2022 best-seller ‘The Light We Carry.’

Besting Meryl Streep, Williams Shatner, Rick Rubin, and Bernie Sanders for the win, Obama’s victory marks the second of her career following a triumph in the same category in 2020 thanks to her New York Times best-seller ‘Becoming.’

In collecting her sophomore sweep of the Best Audio Book trophy she becomes only the second woman in the ceremony’s history to have won this award at least twice. Poet and Civil Rights activist Maya Angelou was the first and remains the overall most-decorated female with three wins (1994, 1996, and 1998).

Among all winners, former President Jimmy Carter also has three while Michelle’s husband – former President Barack Obama – trails with 2.

Actor-director-writer Orson Welles also has 2.