Bob Dylan Finally To Accept Nobel Prize
By PanARMENIAN
Music icon Bob Dylan will finally receive his Nobel Literature Prize this weekend at a meeting with the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, it announced Wednesday, March 29, according to AFP.
But no media will be allowed to cover the meeting, and the famously-reclusive Dylan will only give a lecture required of him in a taped version at a later date.
The 75-year-old kept silent for weeks after he was announced as the Nobel literature laureate in October, and snubbed a ceremony in December to receive the prize.
“The good news is that the Swedish Academy and Bob Dylan have decided to meet this weekend,” Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Academy, wrote in a blog post.
“The Academy will then hand over Dylan’s Nobel diploma and the Nobel medal, and congratulate him on the Nobel Prize in Literature.”
She added: “The setting will be small and intimate, and no media will be present; only Bob Dylan and members of the Academy will attend, all according to Dylan’s wishes.”
Dylan is set to perform concerts on Saturday and Sunday in Stockholm, the first stop on his European tour.
Danius didn’t specify if the meeting would be held before or after the concerts.
But Dylan, the first songwriter to win the prestigious prize, will not hold the traditional Nobel lecture during the meeting, she said.
Because the lecture is the only requirement to receive the eight million kronor (839,000 euros, $870,000) that comes with the prize, Dylan will not be handed the money during his Stockholm visit, even though he will collect the Nobel diploma and medal.
The lecture can take nearly any form, including a short speech, a performance, a video broadcast or even a song, but must be held within six months of December 10, the date of the Nobel prize ceremony and the anniversary of the death of its founder Alfred Nobel.
“The Academy has reason to believe that a taped version will be sent at a later point,” Danius said, without specifying an exact date.
Previous Nobel literature laureates have presented taped lectures, including the Canadian writer Alice Munro in 2013.
Dylan, the songwriter of “Blowin’ In The wind”, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and “Hurricane”, has until June 10 to send his lecture.
