The nominations for the Grammy Awards were announced on Tuesday, and five audiobooks are in the running in the Spoken Word category.
Flea, the bassist for the band Red Hot Chili Peppers, earned a nomination for his Acid for the Children: A Memoir. A reviewer for Kirkus loved the autobiography from the mononymous rocker, calling it “relentlessly honest, untamed, and often revelatory.” Flea’s band has won three Grammys over the years.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow earned her second Grammy nomination for the audiobook version of her Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth. She was previously nominated for her audiobook Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power in 2013.
Ronan Farrow scored a nomination for his narrated version of his National Book Critics Circle Award–nominated Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators. And actress Meryl Streep made the shortlist, along with a full cast, for the audiobook version of E.B. White’s beloved classic Charlotte’s Web.
Rounding out the nominations was Ken Jennings, the Jeopardy! champion, for his narrated version of Alex Trebek’s memoir The Answer Is.... Jennings has been frequently mentioned as a possible replacement on the game show for Trebek, who died earlier this month.
In recent years, the Spoken Word Grammy has almost always gone to audiobook narrators. Past winners have included Michelle Obama for Becoming, Barack Obama for Dreams From My Father, and Michael J. Fox for Always Looking Up.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
