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STOCKHOLM (AP) — Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature.
It was a stunning announcement that for the first time bestowed the prestigious award on a musician for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."
Reporters and others gathered at the Swedish Academy's headquarters in Stockholm's Old Town reacted with a loud cheer as his name was read out.
The 75-year-old Dylan is arguably the most iconic poet-musician of his generation. Songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'" became anthems for the U.S. anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. His impact on popular culture was immense.
But although he had been mentioned in the Nobel speculation for years, many experts had ruled him out, thinking the academy wouldn't extend its more than a century-old award to the world of music.
Dylan is the first American winner of the Nobel literature prize since Toni Morrison in 1993.
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APPHOTO LON810: Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Sara Danius announces that Bob Dylan is awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature during a presser at the Old Stockholm Stock Exchange Building in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Bob Dylan was named the winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature Thursday in a stunning announcement that for the first time bestowed the prestigious award to someone primarily seen as a musician. (Jonas Ekstromer / TT via AP) (13 Oct 2016)
<<APPHOTO LON810 (10/13/16)££
APPHOTO NY203: FILE - This April 27, 1965, file photo, shows Singer Bob Dylan in London. Dylan was named the winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, in a stunning announcement that for the first time bestowed the prestigious award to someone primarily seen as a musician. (AP Photo/File) (13 Oct 2016)
<<APPHOTO NY203 (10/13/16)££
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