Bob Dylan receives Nobel Prize in Literature
October 13, 2016
At the hugely-anticipated ceremony in Stockholm on Thursday, the Swedish Academy awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature to US poet and musician Bob Dylan.
Dylan is the first American to receive the award since Toni Morrison in 1992. It is the first time the prestigious recognition is bestowed on a musician.
He won the award for creating "new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition," Academy Permanent Secretary Sara Danius said after announcing the prize.
Bob Dylan writes "poetry for the eyes," she added, recommending to those not familiar with his songs to listen to his 1966 album "Blonde on Blonde," often ranked by critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.
Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Minnesota, Dylan took the music world by storm in his early 20s, with radical protest folk songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin," which became anthems for the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s.
Thursday's announcement completed the annual Nobel Prize announcements. Awards have earlier been awarded in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, peace and economics.
This year, the prizes are each worth 8 million kronor ($930,000). The awards are presented every year on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel.
kb/eg/kl (AP, dpa)