Bob Dylan has won the Nobel Prize in Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,” the Swedish Academy said on Thursday in awarding the 8 million Swedish kronor ($927,740) prize.
The surprise announcement marks the first time the award has gone to someone who is mainly seen as a musician.
“For 54 years he has been at it, reinventing himself,” said Sara Danius, the academy’s permanent secretary.
The Minnesota-born Dylan, 75, is the first American to win the prize for literature since Toni Morrison in 1993.
Literature was the last of this year’s Nobel prizes to be awarded. The prize is named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and has been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with his will.