Bob Dylan has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The award, generally given to novelists, was given to the songwriter for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition," according to the committee that awarded the prize.

Dylan's win marks the first time an American artist has been given the award since author Toni Morrison in 1993.

"If you look back, 2,500 years or so, you discover Homer and Sappho, and they wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to.

They were meant to be performed often together with instruments," Nobel Academy secretary Sara Danius said.

She added: "It's the same way with Bob Dylan - but we still read Homer and Sappho, and we enjoy it, and the same thing with Bob Dylan.

He can be read, and should be read, and is a great poet in the English tradition."

Dylan will receive the Nobel Prize on December 10.