Dylan in Stockholm to accept Nobel

After months of controversy, Bob Dylan was due in Stockholm Saturday to finally grab his Nobel literature prize in a meeting with the Swedish Academy, which honoured him for his poetry. The first songwriter to receive the prestigious award, Dylan has joined a celebrated group of Nobel laureates including Thomas Mann, Samuel Beckett, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Doris Lessing.
The famously reclusive Dylan was expected to receive his Nobel diploma and medal in a closed meeting with members of the Swedish Academy, which elects the winners of the literature prize. Swedish public broadcaster SVT said it believed the short meeting would take place in an undisclosed location before a planned concert in Stockholm on Saturday. The Academy, which has remained tight-lipped about the ceremony, declined to comment.
"The setting will be small and intimate, and no media will be present - only Bob Dylan and members of the Academy will attend, all according to Dylan's wishes," Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Academy, said in a blog post on Wednesday.
Mikael Timm, a culture reporter at the public Swedish Radio, thinks Dylan wants the meeting to be strictly private to avoid a situation that could spiral out of his control, especially after a series of "humiliating press conferences" in the 1960s. "He obviously wants to communicate but realised he doesn't need to be exposed to aggressive and offensive press conferences," Timm told AFP. Dylan is set to perform concerts on Saturday and Sunday in Stockholm, the first stop on a long-planned European tour for his latest album of cover songs "Triplicate".
Fans were already gathering at the Stockholm Waterfront venue a little before Saturday's scheduled performance, set for 7:30 pm (1730 GMT). Ylva Berglof, a 62-year-old fan who will see the enigmatic music icon perform for the 18th time, told AFP that Dylan "deserves (the Nobel) even though I think he didn't handle it well. He could have been more grateful".
According to several sources, Dylan is not expected to mention the prize during his concert. "Whenever you want to take him in a certain direction, he does the exact opposite," said Martin Nystrom, a music critic for Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. "He's very unpredictable," Nystrom told AFP. The 75-year-old Dylan will not give his traditional Nobel lecture during the meeting, the only requirement to receive the eight million kronor (837,000 euros, $891,000) that comes with the prize.