Iconic rock singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has received an honorary Pulitzer Prize for “his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”

Bob Dylan is the 2008 recipient of a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, it was announced Monday. He thus becomes the first rock musician to be honored by the panel. Previous recipients of the special Pulitzer include jazz icon John Coltrane, composer George Gershwin and jazz pianist Thelonious Monk.

Prize administrator Sig Gissler said the honor “reflects the efforts of the Pulitzer board to broaden the scope of the music prize.” Gissler added that the prize signaled the award body’s intention to “encompass the full range of excellence in American music.”

The 66-year-old musician’s recognition was a joy for fellow recipient Junot Diaz. The novelist confessed to the Associated Press: “I am in disbelief,” while confessing he is a great fan of Dylan’s.

Diaz received the Pulitzer for fiction, for “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” a tragicomic tale of an overweight and nerdy Dominican man searching for love. US playwright Tracy Letts won the drama prize for “August: Osage County.”

Former U.S. poet laureate Robert Hass won the poetry Pulitzer for “Time and Materials,” as did Philip Schultz's “Failure.”

Saul Friedländer’s “The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945” won the Pulitzer for general non-fiction, while “What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848” earned Daniel Walker Howe the Pulitzer for history.

Other winners were John Matteson’s “Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father,” for biography, and David Lang’s “The Little Match Girl Passion,” for music.

According to publisher Simon & Schuster, Bob Dylan is currently working on a second volume of memoirs but no release date has been set yet. His first volume, “Chronicles, Volume One,” was cherished by fans and prized by critics, bringing Dylan a National Book Critics Circle nomination in 2005.

His most recent album, “Modern Times,” which he released aged 64, entered the Billboard charts at number one in 2006. Dylan won a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for the song “Someday Baby.”

According to his official website, he will be touring throughout the summer in North America and Europe.