Dalai Lama Wins First Grammy Award for Best Audio Book Narration
‘Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’ features the likes of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, Rufus Wainwright, Maggie Rogers, Andra Day and is produced by Atlanta-based Kabir Sehgal
The Dalai Lama. Photo: Dalai Lama/Facebook
At the 2026 Grammy Awards pre-show, American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright stepped on stage to accept the Recording Academy trophy on behalf of the Dalai Lama, who won Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording in Los Angeles today.
The spiritual leader, who is based in McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, won the Grammy for Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which was nominated alongside works by Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, comedian (and Grammy host) Trevor Noah, and actress Kathy Garver.
In a statement on social media, the Dalai Lama said, “I receive this recognition with gratitude and humility. I don’t see it as something personal, but as a recognition of our shared universal responsibility. I truly believe that peace, compassion, care for our environment, and an understanding of the oneness of humanity are essential for the collective well-being of all eight billion human beings. I’m grateful that this Grammy recognition can help spread these messages more widely.”
The audiobook was produced by Atlanta-based Indian-origin Kabir Sehgal, a bassist-composer and producer who went on to also find acclaim as a best-selling author and is also known as a military veteran, finance exec and film producer. A multi-Grammy and multi-Emmy winner, Sehgal told Rolling Stone about the making of the audiobook, “We were researching pop stars who have some kind of overlap with religious philosophy. Maggie Rogers had studied at Harvard Divinity School, a Master of Religion and Public Life. I reached out over Instagram: ‘Would you like to be part of this?’ She responded very quickly and that took on its own life.”
The album—which ties together over 100 hours of speeches and conversations with the Dalai Lama—also features the likes of sarod legend Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, his sons and sarod artists Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, Wainwright, American singer and actor Andra Day.
