Nobel Prize Committee Still Can't Get Hold Of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan performing in Paddock Wood, Kent, UK in June 2012.
Ki Price / Reuters
The committee responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize in literature has not yet been able to contact singer-songwriter Bob Dylan about its decision to give him this year's prize, which was announced last Thursday.
Most Nobel laureates are given the opportunity to immediately react to their win via telephone during a press conference.
However, the surprise decision to give Dylan the 2016 literature prize was revealed only via a short statement read out by the Swedish Academy's Sara Danius to reporters in Stockholm, with no reaction from the man himself.
youtube.com / Via Nobel Media
Speaking to Sveriges Radio on Monday, Danius — the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, the group tasked with choosing literature laureates — admitted: “I have called and sent emails to his closest collaborator and received very friendly replies.”
On Tuesday, she confirmed in an email to AP that contacting Dylan had continued to elude the academy.
Danius said there was uncertainty over whether the 75-year-old would attend his prize-giving ceremony, scheduled for Dec. 10, although she remained hopeful he would. "It is sad if he does not come," she told Sveriges Radio, "but in that case, it will be a nice party anyway."
BuzzFeed News has contacted both the Swedish Academy and the Nobel Prize press office for the latest on the quest to speak to Dylan and is awaiting response.
Dylan in 1965
Evening Standard / Getty Images
If he were to be a no-show, he would not be the first literature laureate to fail to appear: Harold Pinter and Alice Munro did not attend their ceremonies, for health reasons, while Jean-Paul Sartre and Boris Pasternak both declined their prizes altogether.
In the aftermath of Thursday's announcement, it seemed that even those closest to Dylan were struggling to get a comment from him.
His agent, Brian Greenbaum, told Swedish tabloid Expressen on Friday: “It's been a crazy day, there have been calls nonstop from around the world,” adding that he hadn't been able to get in touch with the star.
Dylan's publicist, Elliott Mintz, reportedly experienced similar problems. BuzzFeed News has contacted Greenbaum and Mintz and is awaiting response.
The notoriously enigmatic Dylan did not make reference to his Nobel win during his gig in Las Vegas on Thursday, barely speaking to the audience. However, he did play the guitar onstage, something he has rarely done in recent years, amid rumors he suffers from arthritis.
He also did not address it at the weekend's Desert Trip festival in California. However, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones — who followed Dylan onstage — said: ”I want to thank Bob Dylan for an amazing set. We have never shared the stage with a Nobel Prize winner before. Bob is like our own Walt Whitman.”
LINK: Some People Are Upset Bob Dylan Won The Nobel Prize In Literature