Bob Dylan finally accepts Nobel Prize in Literature months after ceremony

The singer was branded 'impolite and arrogant' after he refused to acknowledge

Chantal da Silva
Sunday 02 April 2017 00:05 BST
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Bob Dylan says being given the news about his Nobel Prize left him 'speechless'
Bob Dylan says being given the news about his Nobel Prize left him 'speechless'

His ambivalence to one of the world's most prestigious honours saw him branded "impolite and arrogant" but almost six months after he became the first musician to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Bob Dylan has finally received his award.

The US singer-songwriter collected the diploma and medal ahead of a concert in Stockholm, a member of the Swedish Academy confirmed.

Klas Ostergren said "it went very well indeed", adding Dylan was "a very nice, kind man".

He said the 75-year-old received the award during a small gathering on Saturday afternoon at a hotel, with just academy members and Dylan's staff present.

When the award was announced, some in the literary world criticised the decision to give it to the musician and the dissent grew louder amid Dylan’s apparent indifference to an honour that can transform the career of lesser-known writers.

The Like A Rolling Stone singer took made no public statement after his win was announced in October, and a brief reference added to his website was quickly removed after the media caught wind of it.

It led one academy member, Per Wastberg, to call Dylan “impolite and arrogant.”

Eventually Dylan finally said he had been left "speechless" by the win, more than two weeks after the announcement.

Dylan himself did not mention anything about receiving the Nobel at his concert after months of discussion on whether he would collect the prize in person.

He was named the winner of the prestigious accolade for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

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