New Delhi: Bob Dylan, regarded as the voice of a generation for his influential songs from the 1960s onwards, has won the Nobel Prize for Literature in a surprise decision that made him the only singer-songwriter to win the award.
The 75-year-old Dylan - who won the prize for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition" - now finds himself in the company of Winston Churchill, Thomas Mann and Rudyard Kipling as Nobel laureates.
The announcement was met with gasps in Stockholm`s stately Royal Academy hall, followed - unusually - by some laughter.
More than 50 years on, Dylan is still writing songs and is often on tour, performing his dense poetic lyrics, sung in a sometimes rasping voice that has been ridiculed by detractors.
Check out some of his best songs:
Blowing In The Wind
Mr Tambourine Man
Series Of Dreams
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Not Dark Yet
With this, he also takes home the eight million kronor ($906,000 or 822,000 euros) prize sum.
(With inputs from agencies)
