Singer and songwriter awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature

American singer-songwriter, and poet, Bob Dylan just won the 2016 Nobel prize for literature in Stockholm today “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”

Dylan, real name Robert Allen Zimmerman, is the first American to win since Beloved author Toni Morrison picked up the prize in 1993. He has previously won 11 Grammy Awards, as well as an Oscar for his song Things Have Changed, used in the 2000 film Wonder Boys.

Although people speculated Dylan may win, his work does not fit into the traditional categories of novels and poems usually favoured by the Nobel Prize judges. And people are shocked by his win, because he made his career foremost on the stage, not the printed page.

Perhaps this is why Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, offered an explanation on why Dylan was chosen ahead of authors and writers like Japanese Haruki Murakami and Kenyan Ngugi wa Thiong’o.

Dylan is "a great poet in the English speaking tradition. For 54 years now he's been at it reinventing himself, constantly creating a new identity," she told reporters in Stockholm.

Though best known for his extensive career as a singer-songwriter, and his role as a pivotal figure in 1960s counter-culture, 75-year-old Dylan has also written a collection of experimental prose poetry, 1971's Tarantula.

The prolific singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has also produced dozens of albums, including The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited and Blood on the Tracks.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded since 1901 to writers who have produced "the most outstanding work in an ideal direction." In that time, 109 prizes have been distributed to 113 writers.

The Nobel is one of the world’s most prestigious and financially generous awards, which comes with a prize of 8 million Swedish kronor (450 million Naira). The literature prize is given for a lifetime of writing rather than for a single work.

Bob Dylan will receive his award in Stockholm, Sweden, on Dec. 10.

Nobel Prizes have already been awarded in physics, chemistry, economics and medicine with Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos winning the prestigious peace prize.

Nigeria'sWole Soyinkawon the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 and since then no Nigerian has ever been nominated.

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