<H3>Times change as Bob Dylan wins Pulitzer Prize</H3>
Bob Dylan, singer, poet and one of the heroes of the Sixties generation, has been given a Pulitzer Prize. Dylan is the first rock artist to win the award, and was given his honorary Pulitzer for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture" at a ceremony in New York on Monday.
In the 65 years since the Pulitzer prize for music was launched, judges have tended to favour classical music, and, more recently, jazz. Previous recipients of the music Pulitzer include jazz icon John Coltrane and composer George Gershwin. Rock was dismissed as barbaric and even subversive - but it seems times are a-changing. Pulitzer official Sig Gissler said Dylan's special citation "reflects the efforts of the Pulitzer board to broaden the scope of the music prize". The 66-year-old singer was recognised for his "lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power".
Tom Petty, who collaborated with Dylan and George Harrison in the band The Traveling Wilburys, welcomed the award, saying: "To even begin to name the songs in Bob Dylan's amazing catalogue would take too long and would be like reading from the encyclopedia."
Other 2008 Pulitzer winners include the American playwright Tracy Letts, who has won the prize for drama for his play August: Osage County, a current hit on Broadway, and novelist Junot Diaz for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. In a neat twist, the 39-year-old Dominican-American writer said that at one point he had planned to include a 40-page section on Dylan's lyrics but was unable to make the idea work. "By the end of it, I wanted to throttle my like of Bob Dylan," said Diaz who added he was "in disbelief" about Dylan's award.
In journalism, the Washington Post won six Pulitzers, including the public service medal for its exposition of shoddy treatment of American servicemen at the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington DC.
People: Times change as Bob Dylan wins Pulitzer Prize | News | The First Post
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In the 65 years since the Pulitzer prize for music was launched, judges have tended to favour classical music, and, more recently, jazz. Previous recipients of the music Pulitzer include jazz icon John Coltrane and composer George Gershwin. Rock was dismissed as barbaric and even subversive - but it seems times are a-changing. Pulitzer official Sig Gissler said Dylan's special citation "reflects the efforts of the Pulitzer board to broaden the scope of the music prize". The 66-year-old singer was recognised for his "lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power".
Tom Petty, who collaborated with Dylan and George Harrison in the band The Traveling Wilburys, welcomed the award, saying: "To even begin to name the songs in Bob Dylan's amazing catalogue would take too long and would be like reading from the encyclopedia."
Other 2008 Pulitzer winners include the American playwright Tracy Letts, who has won the prize for drama for his play August: Osage County, a current hit on Broadway, and novelist Junot Diaz for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. In a neat twist, the 39-year-old Dominican-American writer said that at one point he had planned to include a 40-page section on Dylan's lyrics but was unable to make the idea work. "By the end of it, I wanted to throttle my like of Bob Dylan," said Diaz who added he was "in disbelief" about Dylan's award.
In journalism, the Washington Post won six Pulitzers, including the public service medal for its exposition of shoddy treatment of American servicemen at the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington DC.
People: Times change as Bob Dylan wins Pulitzer Prize | News | The First Post
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