The University of Alabama and New College are providing students a chance to celebrate Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday tonight from 5-6:30 p.m.

“New College is invested in helping students make connections amongst disciplines and histories,” said James Hall, a New College professor and organizer of the event. “Celebrating Bob Dylan is a natural thing for us to do.”

The celebration will take place tonight in Room 205 of Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library. The speaker for the event will be Michael Gray who, according to the website, is considered a world authority on the work of Bob Dylan.

Gray, the editor of the Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, will discuss Dylan and the poetry of the blues.

“He’s not unlike Bob Dylan himself; a troubadour journalist, who has made an impact in the documenting of many areas of American music,” Hall said. “As editor of the Bob Dylan encyclopedia, no one knows more about Dylan or his influence.”

According to the event page, Gray is a critic, writer, public speaker, and broadcaster who is known as an expert on rock’n’roll history.

Gray is currently on a book tour promoting his most recent publication, “Hand Me My Traveling Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell,” which is a biography of the blues musician Blind Willie McTell. Although Dylan’s birthday isn’t until May, Hall said he couldn’t pass up the chance to celebrate it with someone who knows so much about him, even if it is a few months early.

Tonight’s talk will focus on Dylan’s influence on blues, bringing together his knowledge of Dylan and the themes in his most recent book.