Bob Dylan is the surprise recipient of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature.
The slight delay in announcement had caused regular observers to wonder whether something slightly different might be afoot, and the legendary songwriter has duly become the first American to be granted the prestigious honour since author Toni Morrison in 1993 after being described as ‘a great poet in the English tradition’ by Nobel Prize permanent secretary Sara Danius.
“Homer and Sappho – they wrote poetic texts that were meant to be performed with instruments, it’s the same with Bob Dylan,” Danius continued, adding he is ‘a great sampler and for 54 years he has been at it, reinventing himself’.
Bob Dylan is recognised as one of the greatest living songwriters and one of folk and rock music’s leading lyricists, his poetry through classic albums such as Bringing It All Back Home, Blood On The Tracks and Blonde On Blonde still some of the very best to have been committed to record.