The first songwriter to receive the Nobel Prize, Bob Dylan courted controversy over his win. Firstly, he did not accept the award till 2017. Then, he was criticized for plagiarizing parts of his lecture from an online study guide. The lecture is the only requirement to claim the 8m kronor prize money.
The Academy praised him for “creating new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. Despite this, Dylan failed initially to acknowledge the honour, and was branded “impolite and arrogant” by one member of the Academy for failing to respond.
Dylan finally spoke about being awarded the Nobel Prize over two weeks after it was announced he was receiving the honour.
“It’s hard to believe,” he told the Daily Telegraph in an interview.
Asked why he chose to stay silent about it for so long, Dylan only replied: “Well, I’m right here.”
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