Bob Dylan is the winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, and he barely cares. He’s ignored the Swedish Academy’s attempts at contact, removed any acknowledgement of the award from his website, and when he finally remarked on the honor, he essentially said, “Neato.” He even ditched out on the White House event celebrating this year’s Nobel laureates.
Unsurprisingly, Dylan isn’t going to be attending the December 10th Nobel Prize ceremony, despite expressing a desire to attend. A scheduling conflict will apparently keep him from accepting the award in person, but he has sent along a speech for someone else to read in his stead. If it’s any longer than, “Thanks for this. Very kind of you all. Enjoy the evening,” I’ll eat my mousepad.
The Nobel committee has also announced that Patti Smith will perform Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” at the ceremony, so at least the event won’t be without some of the actual words that won the honor.
