Literary circles cheered in awe on Thursday as musician Bob Dylan won the Nobel Literature Prize for creating new poetic expression within the great American song tradition.
This announcement rounded off the Nobel award season for 2016.
The announcement was unique this year because the award was for the first time to someone primarily seen as a musician. He had been mentioned in the Nobel speculation for years, not many had expected the academy to extend the prestigious award to a genre such as pop music.
"Dylan has the status of an icon. His influence on contemporary music is profound," the Swedish Academy said on Thursday, when they awarded the 8 million Swedish crown ($9,30,000) prize.
The Swedish Academy announced this year's winner a week later than usual because of scheduling issues but insisted that it had nothing to do with any disagreements on the awarding panel.
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