Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday, but he definitely didn’t win any friends in literary circles.
A number of authors vented their frustration online that Dylan was chosen as this year’s recipient of the prestigious award. The Nobel Prize in Literature traditionally goes to novelists, poets and playwrights, rather than songwriters.
Read some of the reactions below.
I totally get the Nobel committee. Reading books is hard.
— Gary Shteyngart (@Shteyngart) October 13, 2016
If Bob Dylan can win the Nobel Prize for literature then I think @StephenKing should get elected to the Rock N’ Roll hall of fame.
— Jason Pinter (@jasonpinter) October 13, 2016
I’m happy for Bob Dylan. #ButDoesThisMeanICanWinAGrammy?
— Jodi Picoult (@jodipicoult) October 13, 2016
This feels like the lamest Nobel win since they gave it to Obama for not being Bush
— Hari Kunzru (@harikunzru) October 13, 2016
I’m a Dylan fan, but this is an ill conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies.
— Irvine Welsh (@IrvineWelsh) October 13, 2016
To be fair, no one really expected Dylan to win.
The New Republic put his odds of winning at 50:1 just last week. And no American has taken the Nobel Prize in Literature since Toni Morrison in 1993.
Needless to say, when Dylan beat out major writers like Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates, there were audible gasps and chuckles in the hall in Stockholm, Sweden, per Reuters.