‘Blazing, incandescent’: Bob Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin on 1961-66

In a new book, one of the most prolific chroniclers of the 80-year-old Nobel laureate draws on rare documents and film

For three decades, Clinton Heylin has turned out an average of a book a year, about everyone from the Sex Pistols to Orson Welles. But his first love has been his longest. The 61-year-old fell for Bob Dylan when he was 12 and has now published his 11th book about the Nobel laureate, The Double Life of Bob Dylan: A Restless, Hungry Feeling. Covering Dylan's career to 1966, it coincides with his 80th birthday.

Related: My favourite Dylan song - by Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones, Judy Collins and more