The American singer, songwriter and composer has been announced as the winner of the prestigious Nobel Literature Prize.
He was adjudged to the winner of this year’s competition which included Syrian poet Adonis, Kenyan literature icon, Nguigi wa Thiong’o among others, for ‘having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition’.
Bob Dylan has been an American music icon for the better part of 50 years, having commenced his career in 1959 and has won 11 Grammy Awards, one Golden Globe Award, one Oscar, a Pulitzer Prize and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The 75-year-old singer has been enthralling audiences with his poignant and provoking songs over the years. Some of his all-time popular numbers include Tambourine Man, The Times are a-changin. His work has often revolved around social and political issues.
He’s the 259th American to win a Nobel Prize across all categories and only the first to win the literature prize since Toni Morrison in 1993.
However, he is the first musician to receive the prize and comes as a surprise that the category that Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka won in has been extended to cover pop music.
The literature prize was the last to be awarded this year following the medicine, physics, chemistry, peace and economics categories.
The prize is named after Swedish scientist and inventor Alfred Nobel and has been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with his will. The awards will be given out on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
