Iconic American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has won the Nobel Prize for literature at the age of 75.
Dylan, one of the world’s most acclaimed songwriters and lyricists, has been awarded the prize in recognition of “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
Dylan is the first singer-songwriter to win the coveted literature prize, the last Nobel prize to be awarded this year.
Defending the unorthodox decision to award a songwriter the prize, Sara Danils, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy Said: “If you look far back, 5000 years, you discover Homer and Sappho. They wrote poetic texts which were meant to be performed, and it’s the same way for Bob Dylan. We still read Homer and Sappho, and we enjoy it.”
The prize comes with an 8m Swedish kronor ($904,000) cash award.
Starting his career as a protest singer in the Greenwich Village folk-revival scene of the early ‘60s, Dylan’s music has gone on to influence multiple generations, with over 10 platinum albums to his name.
The prize has been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace.
By Ewan Wilkie
