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Bob Dylan sends speech and Patti Smith to cover Nobel Prize duties

By | Published on Tuesday 6 December 2016

Bob Dylan

Who do you turn to when Bob Dylan lets you down? That’s right: Patti Smith. She will perform at next week’s Nobel Prize ceremony in Dylan’s place.

As previously reported, this has been a bit of a saga. Dylan initially failed to respond to the news that he’d won this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature. Then he eventually said that he was super pleased. Then he remembered he had something better to do on the day of the ceremony.

Although he won’t be in attendance, Dylan has at least written a speech that will be read out at the official awards dinner. Smith will perform his song/literature ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ backed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

As well as not appearing at next week’s dinner, Dylan will not give a lecture ahead of the event. Although he has six months from the ceremony on 10 Dec to give said lecture, which is the only condition of receiving his prize money, the talk is traditionally given on 7 Dec. The Swedish Academy has said that it is still hopeful that Dylan will deliver his lecture next year, when he is due to play a show in Stockholm.



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