9. Bob Dylan awarded Nobel Prize for Literature
There’s been quite a bit of debate whether Dylan’s lyrics should have been awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter. The committee agreed that Dylan should be awarded for all the wonderful lyrics he’s come up with, “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
The announcement ranks 9th in our list of biggest headlines of 2016. It has taken many by surprise since this is a prize that’s usually awarded to novelists, poets and the likes, people who publish their work in forms that can be bought in bookstores, not on record.
However, the folks over at the Swedish Academy where it gets decided who wins the Nobel Prize each year believe that Dylan is “a great poet in the great English tradition, stretching from Milton and Blake onwards.” His fans couldn’t agree more that his music should be rewarded in such a manner, but Dylan himself has been rather cold towards the whole business. It took five days for his official website to even acknowledge the award, and he hasn’t exactly been public about his excitement over the issue. The 75-year-old singer also decided he wouldn’t attend the ceremony in December, as it is accustomed, but will likely play a concert in the Swedish capital in 2017 instead where he might give his lecture.
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