Bob Dylan finally receives his Nobel Prize for Literature
The American singer and songwriter was awarded the honour by the Swedish Academy in October (16), but he did not attend the subsequent prizegiving ceremony in December (16) due to pre-existing commitments, and he has also yet to deliver the lecture that is required to receive the $910,000 (£730,000) prize money.
However, the discreet folk rocker finally picked up his Nobel Literature diploma and medal in Sweden on Saturday (01Apr17) during a small gathering hosted in a hotel near the conference centre where Dylan was later scheduled to host a concert.
Swedish Academy member Klas Ostergren tells the Associated Press the intimate ceremony was attended by only a select few academy members and one of Dylan's staff members, as the musician requested the event take place with little fanfare.
"It went very well indeed," Klas says of the prizegiving, before noting Bob is "a very nice, kind man."
Other academy members noted the Blowin' in the Wind hitmaker appeared extremely pleased at the relaxed ceremony upon receiving his award.
The gracious 75-year-old spoke nothing of his huge honour as he rocked the stage at his concert in Stockholm just hours later.
Dylan received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."
He is expected to send in a taped lecture at a later date instead of giving a traditional live Nobel presentation, according to Professor Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Academy.
After his weekend concerts in Stockholm conclude, Bob is scheduled to play four more gigs in Scandinavia before heading off to Germany for a show in Hamburg on 11 April (17).
