Legendary rock musician Bob Dylan has become the first musician to win Nobel Prize in Literature. During a special ceremony at the White House on Thursday morning, President Obama presented the 75-year-old singer-songwriter with the award. Following the ceremony, Obama expressed his admiration for Dylan via Twitter, calling his win "well-deserved."
According to the citation released by the Swedish Academy, Dylan was awarded the high honor for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” Dylan's win shows a change in the academy, as they now regard pieces of music as highly as they regard other, more traditional forms of literature. This change in ideology creates opportunity for other musicians to win the award in the future.
Dylan beat out famed authors Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Haruki Murakami, and Don DeLillo for the prize. He is the first American to win the award since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.
