Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota on May 24, 1941. Though his given name was Robert Allen Zimmerman, he legally changed it to Robert Dylan in 1962 to honor poet Dylan Thomas. This beloved folk singer is “hailed as the Shakespeare of his generation.“

Most people know Bob Dylan as a singer, but they don’t realize he is also an author. I have to admit, though my husband LOVES him, I am not a big fan of his singing. However, I have always admired him as a writer and poet. More so, the humanitarian he has always been – check out this article: How Bob Dylan changed the course of history through his music

Bob Dylan was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. His albums Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde, as well as the individual songs “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” and “Blowin’ in the Wind,” are in the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2008 he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical composition of extraordinary poetic power.”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/bob-dylan

“Bob Dylan’s songs are rooted in the rich tradition of American folk music and are influenced by the poets of modernism and the beatnik movement. Early on, Dylan’s lyrics incorporated social struggles and political protest. Love and religion are other important themes in his songs. His writing is often characterized by refined rhymes and it paints surprising, sometimes surreal imagery. Since his debut in 1962, he has repeatedly reinvented his songs and music. He has also written prose, including his memoirs Chronicles.”

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2016/dylan/facts/

Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 for “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” He was the first music to ever receive this honor. If that doesn’t explain why he’s a writer to remember, I don’t know what else could.