Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album

The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award has had several minor name changes:

  • In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word
  • From 1960 to 1961 it was awarded as Best Performance – Documentary or Spoken Word (other than comedy)
  • From 1962 to 1963 it was awarded as Best Documentary or Spoken Word Recording (other than comedy)
  • From 1964 to 1965 it was awarded as Best Documentary, Spoken Word or Drama Recording (other than comedy)
  • In 1966 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Drama Recording
  • From 1967 to 1968 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording
  • From 1969 to 1979 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word Recording
  • From 1980 to 1983 it returned to the title of Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording
  • From 1984 to 1991 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording
  • From 1992 to 1997 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album
  • Since 1998 it has been awarded as Best Spoken Word Album
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
Awarded forquality spoken word albums
CountryUnited States
Presented byNational Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First awarded1959
Currently held byMichelle Obama, Becoming (2019)
Websitegrammy.com

The category now also includes audio books, poetry readings and story telling.

Three US Presidents have won the award: Jimmy Carter (who has won the award three times), Bill Clinton and Barack Obama (who has won the award twice), along with spoken recordings of John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Four U.S. Senators have won: Barack Obama, Everett Dirksen, Al Franken (won prior to his election), and Hillary Clinton (won when she was First Lady). First Lady Michelle Obama has also won the award after she was First Lady.

Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for a recording released in the previous year. Winners are indicated in boldface.

1950s
Year Winner Work Nominees Ref.
1959 Stan Freberg The Best of the Stan Freberg Shows
[1]

1960s
Year Winner Work Nominees Ref.
1960 Carl Sandburg A Lincoln Portrait
[2]
1961 Robert Bialek FDR Speaks
[3]
1962 Leonard Bernstein Humor in Music
[4]
1963 Charles Laughton The Story-Teller: A Session With Charles Laughton
[5]
1964 Melinda Dillon, George Grizzard, Uta Hagen & Arthur Hill Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
[6]
1965 That Was The Week That Was Cast BBC Tribute to John F. Kennedy [7]
1966 Goddard Lieberson, producer John F. Kennedy: As We Remember Him
[8]
1967 Edward R. Murrow Edward R. Murrow: A Reporter Remembers, Vol. I – The War Years
[9]
1968 Everett Dirksen Gallant Men
[10]
1969 Rod McKuen Lonesome Cities [11]

1970s
Year Winner Work Nominees Ref.
1970 Art Linkletter & Diane Linkletter We Love You, Call Collect [12]
1971 Martin Luther King, Jr. Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam
[13]
1972 Les Crane Desiderata
[14]
1973 The Original Broadway Cast Lenny
[15]
1974 Richard Harris Jonathan Livingston Seagull
[16]
1975 Peter Cook & Dudley Moore Good Evening
[17]
1976 James Whitmore Give 'em Hell, Harry!
[18]
1977 Henry Fonda, Helen Hayes, James Earl Jones & Orson Welles Great American Documents [19]
1978 Julie Harris The Belle of Amherst
[20]
1979 Orson Welles Citizen Kane (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [21]

1980s
Year Winner Work Nominees Ref.
1980 John Gielgud Ages of Man (Readings from Shakespeare)
[22]
1981 Pat Carroll Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein
[23]
1982 Orson Welles Donovan's Brain
[24]
1983 Tom Voegeli Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Movie on Record
  • Roger Rees for Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby
  • Isaac Asimov for Foundation's Edge
  • John Gielgud & Ralph Richardson for No Man's Land
  • Arthur C. Clarke for 2010: Odyssey Two
 [25]
1984 William Warfield Copland: Lincoln Portrait [26]
1985 Ben Kingsley The Words of Gandhi
[27]
1986 Mike Berniker, producer & the Broadway cast Ma Rainey's Black Bottom [28]
1987 Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chips Moman, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins & Sam Phillips Interviews from the Class of '55 Recording Sessions [29]
1988 Garrison Keillor Lake Wobegon Days
[30]
1989 Jesse Jackson "Speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson, July 27"
(from One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism)		 [31]

1990s
Year Winner Work Nominees Ref.
1990 Gilda Radner It's Always Something
[32]
1991 George Burns Gracie: A Love Story
[33]
1992 Ken Burns The Civil War
[34]
1993 Earvin "Magic" Johnson & Robert O'Keefe What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS [35]
1994 Maya Angelou On the Pulse of Morning
[36]
1995 Henry Rollins Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag [37]
1996 Maya Angelou Phenomenal Woman [38]
1997 Hillary Clinton It Takes a Village
[39]
1998 Charles Kuralt Charles Kuralt's Spring [40]
1999 Christopher Reeve Still Me
[41]

2000s
Year Winner Work Nominees Ref.
2000 LeVar Burton The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
2001 Sidney Poitier The Measure of a Man
2002 Quincy Jones Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones
2003 Maya Angelou A Song Flung Up to Heaven
2004 Al Franken Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
2005 Bill Clinton My Life
2006 Barack Obama Dreams from My Father
2007 Jimmy Carter Our Endangered Values
Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee Ossie and Ruby
2008 Barack Obama The Audacity of Hope
2009 Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon, and Blair Underwood An Inconvenient Truth

2010s
Year Work Artist(s)
2010
Always Looking Up Michael J. Fox
Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon Yuri Rasovsky & Josh Stanton
The Lincoln–Douglas Debates Richard Dreyfuss & David Strathairn
A Very Special Time Jonathan Winters
We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land Jimmy Carter
Wishful Drinking Carrie Fisher
2011
Earth (The Audiobook) Jon Stewart and The Daily Show Staff
American on Purpose Craig Ferguson
The Bedwetter Sarah Silverman
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future Michael J. Fox
This Time Together Carol Burnett
The Woody Allen Collection Woody Allen
2012
If You Ask Me (and of Course You Won't) Betty White
Bossypants Tina Fey
Fab Fan Memories: The Beatles Bond Nathan Burbank, Bryan Cumming, Dennis Scott & David Toledo
Hamlet Dan Donohue
The Mark of Zorro Val Kilmer & Cast
2013
Society's Child Janis Ian
American Grown Scott Creswell & Dan Zitt
Back to Work Bill Clinton
Drift Rachel Maddow
Seriously... I'm Kidding Ellen DeGeneres
2014
America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't Stephen Colbert
Carrie and Me Carol Burnett
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls David Sedaris
Still Foolin' Em Billy Crystal
The Storm King Pete Seeger
2015
Diary of a Mad Diva Joan Rivers
Actors Anonymous James Franco
A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power Jimmy Carter
Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America John Waters
A Fighting Chance Elizabeth Warren
We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration and the Power of Song Gloria Gaynor
2016
A Full Life: Reflections at 90 Jimmy Carter
Blood on Snow Patti Smith
Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments and Assorted Hijinks Dick Cavett
Patience and Sarah Janis Ian & Jean Smart
Yes Please Amy Poehler
2017
[42]
In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox Carol Burnett
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo Amy Schumer
M Train Patti Smith
Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink Elvis Costello
Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L.A. Punk Various Artists
2018
[43]
The Princess Diarist Carrie Fisher
Born to Run Bruce Springsteen
Confessions of a Serial Songwriter Shelly Peiken
Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In Bernie Sanders & Mark Ruffalo
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Neil deGrasse Tyson
2019
[44]
Faith: A Journey for All Jimmy Carter
Accessory to War Courtney B. Vance
Calypso David Sedaris
Creative Quest Questlove
The Last Black Unicorn Tiffany Haddish

2020s
Year Work Artist(s)
2020
[45]
Becoming Michelle Obama
Beastie Boys Book Various Artists; Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz, Scott Sherratt & Dan Zitt, producers
I.V. Catatonia: 20 Years as a Two-Time Cancer Survivor Eric Alexandrakis
Mr. Know-It-All John Waters
Sekou Andrews & The String Theory Sekou Andrews & The String Theory

See also

References
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  2. "Grammy Awards 1959". IndiaServer. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  3. "Grammy Awards 1961". IndiaServer. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  4. "Grammy Award Nominees 1962 – Grammy Award Winners 1962". www.awardsandshows.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  5. "Grammy Award Nominees 1963 – Grammy Award Winners 1963". www.awardsandshows.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  6. "Grammy Award Nominees 1964 – Grammy Award Winners 1964". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  7. "Grammy Award Nominees 1965 – Grammy Award Winners 1965". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  8. "Grammy Awards Nominees 1966 – Grammy Award Winners 1966". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  9. "Grammy Awards Nominees 1967 – Grammy Award Winners 1967". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
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  12. "Grammy Award Ceremony 1970 – Grammy Award Winners 1970". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
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  17. "Grammy Awards Nominee 1975 – Grammy Award Winners 1975". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  18. "Grammy Award Nominees 1976 – Grammy Award Winners 1976". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  19. "Grammy Award Nominees 1977 – Grammy Award Winners 1977". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  20. "Grammy Award Nominees 1978 – Grammy Award Winners 1978". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
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  24. "Grammy Award Nominees 1982 – Grammy Award Winners 1982". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  25. "Best Spoken Word Or Non-musical Album". www.grammy.com. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
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  27. "Grammy Award Nominees 1985 – Grammy Award Winners 1985". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  28. "Grammy Award Nominees 1986 – Grammy Award Winners 1986". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  29. "Grammy Award Nominees 1987 – Grammy Award Winners 1987". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  30. "Grammy Award Nominees 1988 – Grammy Award Winners 1988". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  31. "Grammy Award Nominees 1989 – Grammy Award Winners 1989". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
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  43. Rodman, Sarah (November 28, 2017). "Carrie Fisher nets Grammy nod in spoken-word category, faces off with Springsteen and Bernie Sanders". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  44. Lynch, Joe (December 7, 2018). "Grammys 2019 Nominees: The Complete List". Billboard. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  45. "Grammy Awards Nominations: The Complete List". Variety. 2019-11-20. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
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