Dylan to skip Nobel ceremony, has other ‘commitments’

Bob Dylan won’t be coming to Stockholm to pick up his 2016 Nobel Prize for literature at the December 10 prize ceremony.

“The Swedish Academy received a personal letter from Bob Dylan yesterday where he explained that he could not make himself available in December and leave to Stockholm to accept the Nobel prize in literature,” it said in a statement.

“He wishes that he could accept the award personally, but other commitments make it unfortunately impossible. He underlined that he feels incredibly honored by the Nobel prize,” it added.

The 75-year-old Jewish American singer-songwriter, whose lyrics have influenced generations of fans, is the first songwriter to win the literature prize. He was awarded the prize on October 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 Bon Dylan’s decision,” adding that not traveling to the Swedish capital to personally pick up the prestigious award was “unusual, but not exceptional.”

Several other prize winners have skipped the Nobel ceremony in the past for various reasons — Doris Lessing, who was too old; Harold Pinter, because he was hospitalized; and Elfriede Jelinek, who has 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.

Dylan at first was silent after the Nobel announcement but eventually said getting the award left him “speechless.”

Dylan has accepted numerous awards over the years, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he picked up at a White House ceremony in 2012. A year later, he became the first rock star voted into the elite American Academy of Arts and Letters, which made him an honorary member.

In 2000, Dylan traveled to Stockholm to collect the Polar Music Prize from Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf.