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| Image Source: an ironically titled 2011 article on Salon.com: "Why Bob Dylan won't win the Nobel Prize" by Kevin Canfield |
Topics: Literature, Nobel Laureate, Nobel Prize
Press Release
13 October 2016
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016
Bob Dylan
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob Dylan
“for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.
Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. He grew up in a Jewish middle class family in the city of Hibbing. As a teenager he played in various bands and with time his interest in music deepened, with a particular passion for American folk music and blues. One of his idols was the folk singer Woody Guthrie. He was also influenced by the early authors of the Beat Generation, as well as by modernist poets.
Dylan moved to New York in 1961 and began to perform in clubs and cafés in Greenwich Village. He met the record producer John Hammond with whom he signed a contract for his debut album, called Bob Dylan (1962). In the following years he recorded a number of albums which have had a tremendous impact on popular music: Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited in 1965, Blonde On Blonde in 1966 and Blood On The Tracks in 1975. His productivity continued in the following decades, resulting in masterpieces like Oh Mercy (1989), Time Out Of Mind (1997) and Modern Times (2006).
Dylan’s tours in 1965 and 1966 attracted a lot of attention. For a period he was accompanied by film maker D. A. Pennebaker, who documented life around the stage in what would come to be the movie Don't Look Back (1967). Dylan has recorded a large number of albums revolving around topics like the social conditions of man, religion, politics and love. The lyrics have continuously been published in new editions, under the title Lyrics. As an artist, he is strikingly versatile; he has been active as painter, actor and scriptwriter.
"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 - Press Release". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 13 Oct 2016
< http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2016/press.html >
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