Dylan’s Pulitzer Prize: at last!

Yesterday’s announcement of the award to Dylan of a Pulitzer Price Special Citation provoked a simple response here at The Dylan Daily: at last!

Dylan’s citation is for “his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power”.

It’s long overdue – Dylan’s writing has had more impact on more people than the other 21 2008 prize recipients combined.

Pulitzer Prizes, organized by New York’s prestigious Columbia University, are for achievement in “Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music”. To this literary non-American, “Pulitzer” is an elite badge of honour - it represents the highest achievement for a writer.

Dylan is the first “rock” musician to be honoured.

The awards will be presented at Columbia on 29 May – when Dylan will be somewhere between Odense, Denmark and Stavanger, Norway at the start of his European tour.



Gerry Smith