Hamilton, Carter Win Grammys
The Grammy Awards are not known for celebrating books, but this year’s opening number has its roots in Ron Chernow’s biography Alexander Hamilton (Penguin, 2005), the inspiration for the hip hop musical Hamilton.
As a result, the book rose to #49 on Amazon’s sales rankings. Holds are growing in many libraries.
The cast recording went on to win Best Musical Theater Album, a category that included another musical adapted from a book Fun Home, based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel.
Hamilton‘s composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda accepted the award in rhyme:
This gives Miranda another footnote to add to his book, coming in April, about the musical’s improbable path to success, Hamilton: The Revolution, (Hachette/Grand Central Publishing; Hachette Audio and Blackstone Audio)
The winner for Best Spoken Word Album is A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety by Jimmy Carter (S&S Audio). This is Carter’s second Grammy. He won in 2007 for Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis (S&S Audio).
The other nominees were:
Blood On Snow, Jo Nesbø, narrator, Patti Smith (Random House Audio)
Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments, And Assorted Hijinks, Dick Cavett (Macmillan Audio)
Patience And Sarah, by Isabel Miller; narrators, Janis Ian & Jean Smart (Audible/Brilliance)
Yes Please, Amy Poehler (HarperAudio)