2016 Nobel Prize in Literature

20px 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature Bob Dylan Swedish Academy 1901 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2016/summary/ 2016 laureate Bob Dylan - Azkena Rock Festival 2010 1 (cropped).jpg "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." 2016 10 13 yes (announcement) 10 December 2016 (ceremony) Stockholm, Sweden 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature 2017 The 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan (born 1941) "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 nobelprize.org The prize was announced by the Swedish Academy on 13 October 2016.The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 Prize Announcement nobelprize.org He is the 12th Nobel laureate from the United States. Laureate Bob Dylan Bob Dylan's songs are rooted in American folk music traditions and are influenced by the poets of modernism and the beatnik movement. Early on, Dylan's lyrics incorporated social struggles and political protest. Love and religion are other important themes in his songs. His writing is often characterized by refined rhymes and it paints surprising, sometimes surreal imagery. Since his debut in 1962, he has repeatedly reinvented his songs and music. He has also written books, including his poetry collection Tarantula (1971) and his memoirs Chronicles: Volume One (2004).Bob Dylan Facts nobelprize.org thumb|200px|right|Bob Dylan at the Rotterdam De Kuip on June 23, 1978. Candidates On Ladbrokes, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami was the favourite to win the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, followed by Syrian poet Adonis, American novelist Philip Roth and Kenyan Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Other top favourites included Albanian Ismail Kadare, American Joyce Carol Oates, Hungarian László Krasznahorkai (awarded in 2025), Irish John Banville, Korean Ko Un, Norwegian Jon Fosse (awarded in 2023), Portuguese António Lobo Antunes and Spanish Javier Marías.https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/06/haruki-murakami-named-41-favourite-to-win-2016-nobel-prize-in-literature Haruki Murakami named 4/1 favourite to win 2016 Nobel prize in literature Flood, Alison 6 October 2016 The Guardian The Ladbrokes odds of Bob Dylan winning the prize were set to 50/1. Dylan's acceptance of award The Nobel Prize committee announced on October 13, 2016, that it would be awarding Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".October 13, 2016 The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2016/press.pdf dead https://archive.today/20170920010410/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2016/press.pdf September 20, 2017 January 6, 2020 Nobelprize.orgOctober 13, 2016 Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature https://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/13/world/nobel-prize-literature/ October 19, 2016 CNN Dylan remained silent for days after receiving the award,Agence France-Presse October 22, 2016 Bob Dylan criticised as 'impolite and arrogant' by Nobel academy member The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/22/bob-dylan-criticised-as-impolite-and-arrogant-by-nobel-academy-member October 22, 2016 before telling journalist Edna Gundersen that getting the award was "amazing, incredible. Who ever dreams about something like that?"Gundersen, Enda October 28, 2016 World exclusive: Bob Dylan – I'll be at the Nobel Prize ceremony... if I can The Daily Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/world-exclusive-bob-dylan---ill-be-at-the-nobel-prize-ceremony-i October 29, 2016 The Swedish Academy announced in November 2016 that Dylan would not travel to Stockholm for the Nobel Prize Ceremony due to "pre-existing commitments".November 16, 2016 Bob Dylan has decided not to come to Stockholm http://www.svenskaakademien.se/en/press/bob-dylan-has-decided-not-to-come-to-stockholm November 17, 2016 Svenska Akadamien At the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm on December 10, 2016, Dylan's speech was given by Azita Raji, U.S. Ambassador to Sweden. Patti Smith performed his song "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" to orchestral accompaniment.Petrusich Amanda December 10, 2016 A Transcendent Patti Smith Accepts Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/a-transcendent-patti-smith-accepts-bob-dylans-nobel-prize www.newyorker.com On April 2, 2017, academy secretary Sara Danius reported: "Earlier today the Swedish Academy met with Bob Dylan for a private ceremony [with no media present] in Stockholm, during which Dylan received his gold medal and diploma. Twelve members of the Academy were present. Spirits were high. Champagne was had. Quite a bit of time was spent looking closely at the gold medal, in particular the beautifully crafted back, an image of a young man sitting under a laurel tree who listens to the Muse. Taken from Virgil's Aeneid, the inscription reads: Inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes, loosely translated as 'And they who bettered life on earth by their newly found mastery'".Danius, Sara April 2, 2017 Bob Dylan has received the Nobel medal and diploma https://akademibloggen.wordpress.com/2017/04/02/lordag-2359/ dead https://web.archive.org/web/20170402083413/https://akademibloggen.wordpress.com/2017/04/02/lordag-2359/ April 2, 2017 April 2, 2017 Swedish Academy mdy-all Dylan's Nobel Lecture was posted on the Nobel Prize website on June 5, 2017.Bob Dylan Bob Dylan – Nobel Lecture https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2016/dylan-lecture.html Nobelprize.org The New York Times pointed out that, in order to collect the prize's eight million Swedish kronor (US$900,000), the Swedish Academy's rules stipulate the laureate "must deliver a lecture within six months of the official ceremony, which would have made Mr. Dylan's deadline June 10".Sisario, Ben June 5, 2017 Bob Dylan Delivers His Nobel Prize Lecture, Just in Time The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/arts/music/bob-dylan-nobel-prize-lecture-literature.html June 12, 2017 Academy secretary Danius commented: "The speech is extraordinary and, as one might expect, eloquent. Now that the lecture has been delivered, the Dylan adventure is coming to a close".June 5, 2017 Bob Dylan finally delivers his Nobel lecture BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40159988 June 5, 2017 In his Nobel Prize lecture, Dylan wrote about the impact of three books on him: Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front and Homer's Odyssey. He concluded: "Our songs are alive in the land of the living. But songs are unlike literature. They're meant to be sung, not read. The words in Shakespeare's plays were meant to be acted on the stage. Just as lyrics in songs are meant to be sung, not read on a page. And I hope some of you get the chance to listen to these lyrics the way they were intended to be heard: in concert or on record or however people are listening to songs these days. I return once again to Homer, who says, 'Sing in me, oh Muse, and through me tell the story'".Dylan, Bob June 6, 2017 Bob Dylan's Nobel Lecture http://www.svenskaakademien.se/en/nobel-lecture June 5, 2017 Swedish AcademyIn 2017, the year after Dylan received his Nobel Prize, Harvard University Classics Professor Richard F. Thomas published a book entitled Why Bob Dylan Matters. In this work, Thomas suggests that Dylan's lyrics contain many literary allusions, including to the works of classic poets Homer, Ovid and Virgil. To support this claim, Thomas offered multiple examples of Dylan's 21st-century lyrics side-by-side with lines from these poets. Towards the beginning of his book, Thomas further argues for situating Dylan firmly alongside those whose work seems to have inspired him, noting: "For the past forty years, as a classics professor, I have been living in the worlds of the Greek and Roman poets, reading them, writing about them, and teaching them to students in their original languages and in English translation. I have for even longer been living in the world of Bob Dylan’s songs, and in my mind Dylan long ago joined the company of those ancient poets.".Thomas Richard F. Why Bob Dylan Matters HarperCollins Publishers 2017 978-0-06-268573-5 New York, New York 2 English Reactions The 2016 choice of Bob Dylan was the first time a musician and songwriter won the Nobel for Literature.Sisario Ben Alter Alexandra Chan Sewell October 13, 2016 Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize, Redefining Boundaries of Literature en-US The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/arts/music/bob-dylan-nobel-prize-literature.html March 23, 2022 The New York Times reported: "Mr. Dylan, 75, is the first musician to win the award, and his selection on Thursday is perhaps the most radical choice in a history stretching back to 1901."Sisario, Ben October 13, 2016 Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize, Redefining Boundaries of Literature The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/arts/music/bob-dylan-nobel-prize-literature.html October 14, 2016 Dylan's reception of the Nobel Prize caused controversy,Thorpe Vanessa Connett David 2016-12-11 Bob Dylan Nobel prize speech: this is 'truly beyond words' https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/dec/11/bob-dylan-nobel-prize-i-never-considered-whether-i-was-producing-literature 2025-05-07 The Guardian en-GB 0261-3077 The announcement that Dylan had won the literature prize caused controversy with critics arguing his lyrics were not literature.Staff 2016-10-17 Nobel panel gives up knockin' on Dylan's door https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/17/nobel-prize-bob-dylan-unable-to-reach 2025-05-07 The Guardian en-GB 0261-3077 The award caused some controversy, particularly among writers arguing that the literary merits of Dylan’s work are not equal to those of some of his peers.Burack Cristina 2017-05-10 Controversies that have dogged the Nobel for Literature – DW – 10/05/2017 https://www.dw.com/en/controversies-that-have-dogged-the-nobel-prize-for-literature-awards/a-40819676 2025-05-07 dw.com en the Academy's decision to bestow its distinguished literary award — and the accompanying $1.1 million (€937,000) prize — to Bob Dylan unleashed a storm of criticism, with many arguing the American musician and songwriter did not deserve an award that was typically bestowed on novelists, dramatists, and writers of non-fiction.Kornhaber Spencer 2017-06-14 The Irony of Bob Dylan's Nobel Lecture Possibly Cribbing From SparkNotes https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/06/bob-dylan-nobel-spark-notes-plagarism/530283/ 2025-05-07 The Atlantic en Dylan’s Nobel has been controversial for its suggestion that popular music can achieve the same seriousness as a great novel. particularly among writers who argued that the literary merits of Dylan's work were not equal to those of more traditional authors. Writer Rabih Alameddine tweeted, "Bob Dylan winning a Nobel in Literature is like Mrs Fields being awarded 3 Michelin stars."Bob Dylan winning a Nobel in Literature is like Mrs Fields being awarded 3 Michelin stars, Rabih Alameddine's Twitter page, 13 October 2016. The French writer Pierre Assouline described the decision as "contemptuous of writers".Le bras d'honneur des Nobel à la littérature américaine, La Républic, Ocbtober 13, 2016. In a live webchat hosted by The Guardian, Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgård said: "I'm very divided. I love that the Nobel committee opens up for other kinds of literature – lyrics and so on. I think that's brilliant. But knowing that Dylan is the same generation as Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, makes it very difficult for me to accept it."Karl Ove Knausgaard webchat – your questions answered on self-loathing, love and Jürgen Klopp, The Guardian, 17 October 2016. Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh said: "I'm a Dylan fan, but this is an ill conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies."13 October 2016 Don't think twice, it's all right: Bob Dylan wins Nobel Lit https://www.yahoo.com/news/bob-dylan-wins-2016-nobel-prize-literature-110421880.html dead https://web.archive.org/web/20161013223638/https://www.yahoo.com/news/bob-dylan-wins-2016-nobel-prize-literature-110421880.html 13 October 2016 13 October 2016 Yahoo! News Associated Press Dylan's songwriting peer and friend Leonard Cohen said that no prizes were necessary to recognize "the greatness of the man who transformed pop music with records like Highway 61 Revisited", adding: "To me, [the Nobel] is like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain."Leonard Cohen: giving Nobel to Bob Dylan like 'pinning medal on Everest', Guardian, 13 October 2016. Writer and commentator Will Self wrote that the award "cheapened" Dylan whilst hoping the laureate would "follow Sartre in rejecting the award".'Dylan towers over everyone' – Salman Rushdie, Kate Tempest and more pay tribute to Bob Dylan https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/13/dylan-towers-over-everyone-salman-rushdie-kate-tempest-and-more-pay-tribute-to-bob-dylan 14 October 2016 The Guardian 13 October 2016 Cocker Jarvis Rushdie Salman Matthews Cerys Motion Andrew Self Will Bragg Billy O'Hagan Andrew Tempest Kate Great Emmy the Gibbons Billy F. Garvey Guy Mekas Jonas Tempest Kae Other writers praised the decision, including Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Salman Rushdie, and former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins. Rushdie called Dylan a "brilliant inheritor of the bardic tradition." When Philip Roth was asked about Dylan winning the Prize, he said, “It’s OK, but next year I hope Peter, Paul and Mary get it.”Remnick David David Remnick May 28, 2018 Philip Roth’s Propulsive Force https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/06/04/philip-roths-propulsive-force live https://archive.today/20230424205301/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/06/04/philip-roths-propulsive-force April 24, 2023 November 4, 2025 The New Yorker Lecture plagiarism controversy An article in Slate magazine by Andrea Pitzer found multiple parts of Dylan's Nobel lecture that closely resembled the analysis of Moby-Dick on the study guide website SparkNotes, including a passage Dylan "quoted" that was not in the book itself.Pitzer Andrea Andrea Pitzer June 13, 2017 The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan https://slate.com/culture/2017/06/did-bob-dylan-take-from-sparknotes-for-his-nobel-lecture.html live https://archive.today/20201020225353/https://slate.com/culture/2017/06/did-bob-dylan-take-from-sparknotes-for-his-nobel-lecture.html October 20, 2020 November 4, 2025 Slate According to an Associated Press analysis, the two texts contained more than 20 "identical phrases and similar phrasing", but "no verbatim sentences".Savage Mark June 14, 2017 Did Bob Dylan plagiarise his Nobel speech? https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-40272123 live https://archive.today/20250220051904/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-40272123 February 20, 2025 February 20, 2025 BBCKornhaber Spencer June 14, 2017 Bob Dylan Cheats Again? https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/06/bob-dylan-nobel-spark-notes-plagarism/530283/ live https://archive.today/20210403121432/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/06/bob-dylan-nobel-spark-notes-plagarism/530283/ April 3, 2021 February 20, 2025 The AtlanticHaynes Gavin June 14, 2017 It's alright ma, I'm only cheating: did Bob Dylan crib his Nobel speech from SparkNotes? https://www.theguardian.com/music/shortcuts/2017/jun/14/its-alright-ma-im-only-cheating-did-bob-dylan-crib-his-nobel-speech-from-sparknotes live https://archive.today/20171221143331/https://www.theguardian.com/music/shortcuts/2017/jun/14/its-alright-ma-im-only-cheating-did-bob-dylan-crib-his-nobel-speech-from-sparknotes December 21, 2017 February 20, 2025 The Guardian The accusations prompted an article from The New York Times on the history of plagiarism accusations against Dylan, who had previously defended borrowing material as "a rich and enriching tradition" in folk music.Sisario Ben Ben Sisario June 14, 2017 Accusations About Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize Lecture Rekindle an Old Debate https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/arts/music/bob-dylan-nobel-lecture-sparknotes.html live https://archive.today/20231108194618/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/arts/music/bob-dylan-nobel-lecture-sparknotes.html November 8, 2023 February 20, 2025 The New York Times Gallery 13 October 2016: Announcement of the 2016 Nobel laureate in Literature by Permanent Secretary Sara Danius. References External links Prize Announcement nobelprize.org Award Ceremony Speech nobelprize.org Category:Bob Dylan 2016 Category:Plagiarism controversies Nobel Category:Articles containing video clips