Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel prize in literature – live updates and reaction

Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel prize in literature – live updates and reaction

The American singer songwriter Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel prize for literature

Bob Dylan, the winner of the 2016 Nobel prize in literature Photograph: 1996-98 AccuSoft Inc., All right/Publicity image

Dylan is the first songwriter to have won the prize, and his regular appearance in the betting odds was regarded as one of the longrunning jokes of the Nobels.

In 2011, a late gamble sent him soaring up the odds to become the fourth favourite, due to what Ladbrokes described as “a substantial gamble from clued-up literary fans”.

In her citation, Sara Danils said that though the choice might seem surprising, “if you look far back, 5000 years, you discover Homer and Sappho. They wrote poetic texts which were meant to be performed, and it’s the same way for Bob Dylan. We still read Homer and Sappho, and we enjoy it.”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/live/2016/oct/13/nobel-prize-in-literature-2016-liveblog

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