Bob Dylan Won’t Attend Nobel Award Ceremony

After waiting weeks to respond to winning the Nobel prize in literature, Bob Dylan now says he isn’t heading to Stockholm next month to accept the prestigious award.

The Swedish Academy, which awards the various Nobel prizes, announced Wednesday that it received a letter from the Minnesota-born bard, informing them that the musician wouldn’t make it to the December award ceremony “due to pre-existing commitments.”

The academy said that the award still belongs to Dylan and that the singer-songwriter was “very honored indeed” to win the literary prize last month.

However, the only thing Dylan is obliged to do for the Nobel honor is give a lecture. He has about seven months to do that.

Dylan, 75, was the first songwriter to win the Nobel prize for literature. The academy says it picked him for his “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

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The musician waited weeks to respond to the academy after he was tapped for the prize in early October. Following the days of silence, he reportedly called the academy and said he appreciated the honor and was speechless.