CUP enters Latham's World of Bob Dylan

Cambridge University Press has scored a “unique and fresh” collection of new writing on Bob Dylan, to coincide with the star's 80th birthday in May 2021.

Ray Ryan, CUP's commissioning editor for literature, acquired world rights direct from volume co-editor Sean Latham. The World of Bob Dylan will publish in April 2021 in hardback.

Latham is director of the TU Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa where the Dylan Archives are kept, and where the new Bob Dylan Center will open in 2021.

CUP said: “One of the first books to access the archives, The World of Bob Dylan, brings together leading rock and pop critics and scholars including [author and critic] Greil Marcus, NPR’s music critic Ann Powers, and head archivist at the Dylan Archives Mark Davidson, to explore themes and topics central to Dylan’s life and work such as the blues, his religious faith, civil rights, gender, race, and American and world literature.”

Ryan said: “The World of Bob Dylan chronicles a lifetime of creative invention that has made a global impact. It’s a book that does something unprecedented for an understanding of Dylan. Amidst the flow of books on the artist, this will say something distinct, substantive, and fresh.”

Latham said: “I’m thrilled that Cambridge University Press is publishing what will be this important reappraisal of Dylan’s art and its impact on music, literature, and politics in the US and around the world. We’ve assembled a stellar cast of the best music writers, rock critics and scholars to look afresh at Dylan on the eve of his landmark birthday. This is an exhilarating time for Dylan fans and scholars both with the recent unveiling of the archives here in Tulsa and the opening of the Dylan Center next year and we hope this book will be part of the excitement.”