Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature

Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature

 

By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

(CNN)The 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

The Swedish Academy's permanent secretary, Sara Danius, said Dylan, 75, "is a great poet in the English-speaking tradition." She drew parallels between his work and that of ancient Greek poets.

"If you look back, far back, 2,500 years or so, you discover Homer and Sappho and they wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to, that were meant to be performed, often with instruments -- and it's the same way with Bob Dylan," she said.

Although Dylan is not in the established canon of literary writers, Danius praised his creative output over five decades, including his constant reinvention of himself. She also described him as "a wonderful sampler, a very original

sampler."

 Dylan's music and lyrics spoke to a generation of people during the tumultuous 1960s and helped galvanize the civil rights movement. His influence continues to permeate through rock, pop and folk music today.

Asked where those unfamiliar with Dylan's work should start, Danius -- a professor in literature at Stockholm University-- recommended his 1966 album "Blonde on Blonde," saying it contained "many examples of his brilliant way of rhyming and putting together refrains and his pictorial thinking."

'Strikingly versatile' artist

The award will certainly be a surprise for some. An article published in the New Republic October 6 was headlined: "Who Will Win the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature? Not Bob Dylan, that's for sure."

At that point, Dylan was given odds of 50/1 by bookmaker Ladbrokes to win the prize.

Bookmakers' favorites for 2016 included Japanese author Haruki Murakami, American novelist Philip Roth and Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o but the actual list of nominees will be kept secret for 50 years.

Perhaps seeking to forestall criticism, the Nobel Committee said in a statement that Dylan had "recorded a large number of albums revolving around topics like the social conditions of man, religion, politics and love" and that his words have repeatedly been republished.

"As an artist, he is strikingly versatile; he has been active as painter, actor and scriptwriter," it added.

Dylan's Nobel Prize win stirs fierce social media reaction

'Profound impact on popular music'

Dylan's award will be welcomed by legions of fans around the world.

One, Robyn Hitchcock, tweeted: "He launched me and many others on oceans of which we'd never dreamed..."

Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1941, and released his first album, "Bob Dylan," in 1962. That eponymous album consisted mostly of cover versions of old folk songs.

His second album, 1963's "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," contained original songs he had written, such as "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" and "Blowin' in the Wind." Dozens more albums were to follow.

Since those early days, he's collected 10 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year; one Golden Globe and one Academy Award.

In 2008, Dylan won a Pulitzer Prize special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."

US President Barack Obama presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, the nation's highest civilian honor. At that time, Obama said, "I remember, you know, in college, listening to Bob Dylan and my world opening up, 'cause he captured something about this country that was so vital."

With Thursday's announcement, Dylan also becomes the 108th winner of the most prestigious literature award in the world.

He's the first American to be awarded the accolade since author Toni Morrison in 1993. 

 

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Kenyan girls who code: Mentors spur African tech innovations

Harriet Karanja (R) had the idea for the app after witnessing a robbery

Kenyan schoolgirls are building apps to end ticket queues and transform organ donation, with the help of new mentor programmes promoting women in tech, writes the BBC's Anthony Irungu.

Sixteen-year old Harriet Karanja had been waiting a while in queue to buy a bus ticket in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, when someone else who was waiting was robbed.
When she retold her tale at school she found out her classmates had experienced the same problem.
What if, she asked, they could get rid of the queue for the tickets altogether?
She got together with four other school friends to make an app to buy a bus ticket, working with the support of a mentor as part of a scheme backed by Kenyan mobile phone company Safaricom.
They tested out a prototype version of the app on a long-distance bus across Kenya.

 

  The girls travelled from Nairobi to San Francisco to pitch for funding

"The app takes you to the bus stop you prefer using GPS technology so you will only need to go to a bus stop to board a vehicle but not to wait for a vehicle."
They called it M-Safiri - which means "traveller" in Swahili.
Soon, the five young students were on the road themselves, travelling from Nairobi to San Francisco in the US to present their app at a global technology competition for schoolgirls.
The five, under the team name the Snipers, made it to the finals but missed out on the $10,000 (£8,000) top prize.
That went to a group of Mexican school girls who made an app which helps people volunteer to do social work.
But although the girls did not receive funding to develop the app beyond the prototype stage, they are hoping they can pursue private investment once they leave school.

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But the experience could make a far bigger impact in their lives than the prize.
The girls have plans to transform their team into a technology company once they graduate from high school and are looking at patenting and rolling out the app.
Snipers teammate Priscilla Wambui says that having the support of a mentor was vital.
"We didn't know how to code, pitching, writing a business plan, all this takes long to learn and it was a big problem for us," she said.

BBC

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