Bob Dylan Is Awarded The 2016 Nobel Prize In Literature

Bob Dylan, the renowned singer-songwriter, was announced the winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.

Bob Dylan Wins The 2016 Nobel Prize In Literature

“‘Breaking 2016 #NobelPrize in Literature to Bob Dylan ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,’” the official Nobel Prize Twitter account wrote.

BREAKING 2016 #NobelPrize in Literature to Bob Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition” pic.twitter.com/XYkeJKRfhv

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 13, 2016

The Swedish Academy’s secretary, Sara Danius, praised Dylan for his poetry and compared his writing to ancient Greek texts.

“Dylan is a great poet in the English-speaking tradition,” Danius said. “If you look back, far back, 2,500 years or so, you discover Homer and Sappho and they wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to, that were meant to be performed, often with instruments — and it’s the same way with Bob Dylan.”

Dylan, 75, is legendary for bringing social and political issues to light in his music and lyrics, which added a voice to the civil rights movement during the 1960s.

The Nobel Committee explained in a statement that Dylan had “recorded a large number of albums revolving around topics like the social conditions of man, religion, politics and love.”

“As an artist, he is strikingly versatile,” the committee noted. “He has been active as painter, actor and scriptwriter.”

Dylan is the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature since author Toni Morrison in 1993.