The 75-year-old rock legend, Bob Dylan, has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Dylan received the prize “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.
Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941 and started his musical career in 1959, playing in coffee houses in Minnesota, United States.
Much of his best-known work dates from the 1960s when he became an informal historian of America’s troubles.
Songs, such as Blowin in the Wind and The Times They are A-Changin, became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements.
His move away from traditional folk songwriting, paired with a controversial decision to “go electric” proved equally influential.
Although best known for being a record-breaking musician, Dylan’s work has also spread into the art and literature world. He has written six books, including three compilations of his song lyrics and a collection of poetry, entitled: Tarantula, written in a similar stream-of-consciousness style to icons of the Beat Generation.
Dylan also published several collections containing his artwork in partnership with major international galleries, such as New York’s Gagosian and London’s National Portrait Gallery. His artwork has been exhibited around the world, with pieces ranging from sculpture to drawings and paintings.
Alex Donohue, of British bookmakers Ladbrokes, said: “People laughed when Dylan entered the picture out of nowhere in 2011 but maybe there was something blowin’ in the wind after all. On this occasion only a handful of his fans managed to cash in, leaving us with a far more manageable payout.”
He is the first musician or songwriter of his stature to win the prize for literature, and the 259th American to win a Nobel Prize.
“He’s a great poet—a great poet in the English-speaking tradition. For 54 years, he’s been at it, reinventing himself constantly, creating a new identity,” said Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy. In the announcement, she referred to Greek writers, noting that “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. We can and should read him.”
Danius recommended Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde album as a starting point for those unfamiliar with Dylan’s work. Although Dylan was an unconventional choice, the panel judged the breadth and depth of Dylan’s songwriting work when awarding the prize. The album, selected as one of TIME’s All-Time 100 Albums, was released in 1966 and described by Dylan as a “thin, wild mercury sound.”
In the early 1960s, as a young man, Dylan was influenced by the Beat Generation and was inspired by the work of Jack Kerouac. After moving to New York in 1961, he met the poet, Allen Ginsberg, at a party and became friends with him. Ginsberg acted as a mentor and collaborated with Dylan on an ambitious album, called Holy Soul Jelly Roll.
The New Yorker notes that in the mid-1960s, “the two would complete important artistic transitions, each touched and supported by the other.” As TIME reported in May 1963, “he has something unique to say, and he says it in songs of his invention that are the best songs of their style.”