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Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize in literature

Bob Dylan performs at Desert Trip in Indio last week. The musician has won the Nobel Prize in literature. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

By Carolyn Kellogg

Bob Dylan was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday morning.

Dylan was awarded the prize “for having created new poetic expressions within the American song tradition.”

The American musician had long been rumored to be considered for the prize, but literary watchers considered his name among those in the running  a novelty. He is the first American to win the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993.

The room of watchers at the Swedish Academy seemed shocked by the announcement, one calling the decision “radical” when asking Sara Danils, permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, about the choice.

She compared Dylan to the poet Sappho, and then suggested the interviewer begin with Dylan’s record “Blonde on Blonde.”


Bob Dylan: Voice of a Generation

It’s notable that the musician was cited for his lyrics and music, broadening the definition of “literature” eligible for the award. The Nobel Prize in literature has typically gone to novelists, playwrights, poets and essayists. Often, the writers recognized are both at the top of their creative fields and have work that reflects a social conscience.

In that, Dylan fits.

Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Minnesota in 1941. His story — by now well-known — includes traveling to New York, giving himself a new name, and embarking on a career in folk music. He became the voice of a generation with songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changing,” which became anthems protesting the Vietnam War.

Dylan, whose lyrics could sometimes be inscrutable, was restless, however, and shocked his fans by going electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. His wide-ranging career has continued to this day; last weekend he performed at the Desert Trip concert in Indio, and will perform again this weekend.

"My music comes