Nobel Academy Member Calls Bob Dylan's Silence After Prize Win 'Arrogant'
by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STOCKHOLM — A member of the Swedish Academy that awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature to Bob Dylan says the U.S. singer-songwriter's silence since receiving the honor is "impolite and arrogant."

Per Wastberg said Dylan's lack of reaction was predictable but disrespectful nonetheless. He was quoted telling the Swedish newspaper Dagens Myheter in Saturday's edition: "One can say that it is impolite and arrogant. He is who he is."

Wastberg said the academy still hopes to communicate with the 75-year-old artist, whose award credits him with creating "new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." Dylan is the first musician in history to be awarded the literary prize.

The academy says it has struggled to reach Dylan since the award announcement on Oct. 13. Sara Danius, the academy's permanent secretary said she had emailed him and called his "closest collaborator" to ensure he claims his hefty $927,740 award, according to a translation published in The Guardian.

However, Danius only received "very friendly replies" with Dylan's silence still a mystery.

Dylan took a week to officially respond to the academy.He casually mentioned the "Nobel Prize" award in a blurb on his website promoting his book, "The Lyrics : 1961-2012" on Wednesday. But, Dylan retracted that statement within 24 hours of publishing it. The reasoning behind the retraction remains unknown to NBC News.

The Nobel Prize is mentioned on Dylan's official Twitter and Facebook accounts.

The prize will be officially conferred on Dec. 10 in Stockholm.

Bob Dylan Breaks His Silence After Winning Nobel Prize in Literature
by JILLIAN SEDERHOLM

The answer to whether Bob Dylan is happy about being a Nobel laureate is no longer blowin' in the wind.

"I appreciate the honor so much," the legendary musician told Sara Danius, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, in a phone call this week, the Nobel Foundation said in a statement Friday.

Dylan, 75, had stayed mum for more than two weeks since the announcement that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. His silence prompted one Nobel academy member to call Dylan "impolite and arrogant."

"The news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless," the elusive singer-songwriter explained in the call.

The Nobel Foundation said it had "not yet been decided if Dylan will attend any events during the Nobel Week in Stockholm." But the rocker told British newspaper The Telegraph that he "absolutely" wants to attend the December ceremony "if it's at all possible."

The Swedish Academy said it had awarded the honor to Dylan for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." The award comes with a prize of $927,740.

Bob Dylan Won't Go to Stockholm to Pick Up His Nobel Prize
by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bob Dylan won't be coming to Stockholm to pick up his 2016 Nobel Prize for literature at the Dec. 10 prize ceremony, the Swedish Academy said Wednesday.

The Academy says Dylan told them that "he wishes he could receive the prize personally, but other commitments make it unfortunately impossible."

The 75-year-old American singer-songwriter was awarded the prize on Oct. 13 "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

The literature prize and five other Nobel Prizes will be officially conferred upon winners in Stockholm next month on the anniversary of award founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

The Academy said it "respects Bob Dylan's decision," adding it was not travelling to the Swedish capital to personally pick up the prestigious award was "unusual, but not exceptional."

Literature laureates have skipped the ceremony before. In 2004, Austrian playwright and novelist Elfriede Jelinek stayed home, citing a social phobia.

"The award is still theirs, as it now belongs to Bob Dylan," the Academy said. "We are looking forward to Bob Dylan's Nobel lecture, which he must hold, according to the requirements, within six months" from Dec. 10.

Bob Dylan May Deliver Nobel Lecture Next Year, Says Swedish Academy

12:39 PM PST 11/18/2016 by the Associated Press

Dylan, who said he cannot attend the Dec. 10 ceremony, likely will perform a concert in Stockholm in 2017.

Bob Dylan, who was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature but won't be attending the prize ceremony, likely will travel to Stockholm next year and might give his Nobel Lecture then, the Swedish Academy said Friday.

Dylan likely will give a concert in the Swedish capital, offering "a perfect opportunity to deliver his lecture," said the academy. The Swedish Academy awards the Nobel Prize for literature.

Sara Danius, the organization's permanent secretary, told Swedish public radio Friday that the Nobel Foundation's rules for laureate lectures are "flexible." Dylan can deliver his as "a written speech, a spontaneous discourse, a film" or another format of his choosing, said Danius.

In 2004, Austrian playwright and Nobel literature prize winner Elfriede Jelinek stayed home because of social phobia. Her lecture was prerecorded and shown on video in Stockholm.

Dylan has said he cannot attend the Dec. 10 prize ceremony, pleading other commitments.

The 75-year-old American singer-songwriter was awarded the prize on Oct. 13 "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

The Academy said in a statement that it had "decided not to organize an alternative plan" for his lecture.

The laureate lectures must be held within six months from the Dec. 10 ceremonies, on a subject related to the topic of the prize.

Normally, they occur during the week leading up to the award ceremony. However, several recipients have delivered the lectures after the fact.

Former political prisoner and now the de facto leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, delivered hers 21 years after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Peace Prize recipient Lech Walesa, the Polish dissident and leader of the Solidarity union movement, gave his lecture 12 years after receiving the prize, while visiting Norway as Poland's president.

The six Nobel Prizes will be officially conferred upon winners in Stockholm and Oslo next month on the anniversary of award founder Alfred Nobel's death on Dec. 10, 1896.

Details about who would accept the award on Dylan's behalf were still unclear.

Bob Dylan: It Took While to 'Process' Nobel, Patti Smith Plays at Ceremony

by TIM STELLOH
DEC 10 2016, 10:35 PM ET

It may have taken Bob Dylan a stunningly long two weeks to acknowledge receiving this year's Nobel Prize for literature, but at the award banquet on Saturday the famously aloof musician offered something of an explanation.

Dylan didn't attend the event in person — the musician Patti Smith appeared in Stockholm, Sweden, on his behalf — but in a speech written by Dylan and read by the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, Azita Raji, he said that he'd been on the road when the news arrived.

"It took me more than a few minutes to properly process it," Dylan said in the speech.

In Dylan's place, Smith performed one of his most moving songs — "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" — to 1,500 people during the award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall.

The scale of this task was evident: Just two minutes into an otherwise emotionally powerful rendition, Smith paused, stumbled, then apologized.

"I'm sorry," she said to applause. "I'm just so nervous."

Smith's performance was preceded by a rapturous introduction from Swedish Academy member Horace Engdahl, who compared Dylan to the greatest poets in history.

"With the public expecting poppy folk songs, there stood a young man with a guitar fusing the language of the street and the bible into a compound that would have made the end of the world seem a superfluous replay," Engdahl said. "At the same he sang of love with the power of conviction that everyone wants to own."

Engdahl added: "He gave back to the language of poetry its elevated style lost since the romantics — not to sing of eternities but to speak of what was happening around us, as if the Oracle of Delphi was reading the evening news."

The Academy previously said Dylan couldn't attend due to "other commitments."

Though Dylan didn't attend, he seemed humbled by the honor.

"I'm sorry I can't be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize," Dylan said in the speech read by the ambassador.

"If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I'd have about the same odds as standing on the moon," he said.

"Here's what I love about Dylan: He was exactly as you'd expect he'd be. He wouldn't come to the rehearsal. He didn't want to take a picture with me; usually all the talent is dying to take a picture with me and Michelle before the show, but he didn't show up to that. He came in and played 'The Times They Are A-Changin'.' A beautiful rendition. Finishes the song, steps off the stage - I'm sitting right in the front row - comes up, shakes my hand, sort of tips his head, gives me just a little grin, and then leaves. And that was it - then he left. That was our only interaction with him. And I thought: That's how you want Bob Dylan, right? You don't want him to be all cheesin' and grinnin' with you. You want him to be a little skeptical about the whole enterprise." - Barack Obama