Bob Dylan awarded Nobel Prize for Literature
The iconic American musician has been acknowledged as one of the best selling artists of all time
The iconic American singer song-writer Bob Dylan has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Judges credited the U.S. folk singer “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.
Sara Danils, permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, said Dylan was “a great sampler … and for 54 years he has been at it, reinventing himself”.
Some of his songs, she said, were “extraordinary examples of his brilliant way of rhyming. putting together refrains, and his brilliant way of thinking,” and she compared him to Homer, author of The Iliad and The Odyssey, who “wrote poetic texts which were meant to be performed… it’s the same with Bob Dylan”.
Now 75 years of age, Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman, his paternal grandparents having fled from Odessa to escape the anti-Semitic pogroms in 1905, while his maternal grandparents came from Lithuania three years earlier.
Born in Minnesota, he began by playing in coffee houses and produced his best-known work in the 1960s, for which he has since been described as “historian of America’s troubles”.
Songs such as Times They are A-Changin’ and Blowin’ in the Wind captured the feeling of the civil rights struggle and the huge backlash again the Vietnam War.
He has sold more than 100 million records, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time, and in 2008 the Pulitzer Prize recognised his “profound impact on popular music and American culture”.
BREAKING 2016 #NobelPrize in Literature to Bob Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition” pic.twitter.com/XYkeJKRfhv
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 13, 2016
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
