Skip to main content

The Nobel Prize committee appears to have given up trying to contact Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan sings into a microphone.
Xavier Badosa/Flickr
Has Bob Dylan run out of words? The man famous for putting them together in a way that has delighted millions of fans over the last 55 years is yet to offer any in recognition of his recent prize for literature. The Nobel Prize committee can’t even get a single syllable out of him.

Four days after the Swedish Academy awarded Dylan the prestigious prize “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,” it said it’s given up trying to contact him about the accolade.

Recommended Videos

“Right now we are doing nothing. I have called and sent emails to his closest collaborator and received very friendly replies. For now, that is certainly enough,” the academy’s Sara Danius told Swedish radio this week.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

When the award was announced last Thursday, the Associated Press contacted Dylan’s team for a response but was told by a representative that he had “no immediate comment.”

Later the same day, Dylan played a live show in Las Vegas. Again, the singer-songwriter made no mention of the prize, though some commentators speculated as to whether his final song, a cover of Frank Sinatra’s Why Try To Change Me Now, may have been a supremely subtle nod to the news.

And on Friday, performing at the Desert Trip festival in California, the whole matter slipped Dylan’s mind again, the 75-year-old wordsmith opting to save his voice for his singing performance rather than risking it on any acknowledgement of the prize.

But his continued silence on the subject now has some people wondering if he’ll bother heading over to Sweden on December 10 to accept the award from King Carl XVI Gustaf. Danius, for one, doesn’t seem overly concerned.

“I’m not at all worried, I think he’ll show up,” she said, adding, “If he doesn’t want to come, he won’t come. It will be a big party in any case and the honor belongs to him.”

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
How to download music from SoundCloud on desktop and mobile
Soundcloud Interface on a Macbook.

If you’re a huge music fan, you’ve probably combed through the many playlists, artists, and albums of your Spotify or Apple Music subscription. But what about all the indie artists of the world? Some music-streaming platforms are better than others at celebrating the
‘unsung gem’ acts, but one of the most reliable forums for new, off-the-grid tunes is SoundCloud.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has always prioritized music that’s a bit under the radar. With over 320 million tracks in its library, the platform will even let you download a majority of its songs and albums.

Read more
The best kids headphones of 2024: for fun, safety, and sound
Two kids using the Puro Sound PuroQuiet Plus to watch something on a tablet.

Kid-friendly consumer tech is all the rage these days, so it’s no surprise that there’s an entire market of headphones designed exclusively for young ones. But when we think “kid-friendly,” sometimes we imagine products that are built to be a bit more throwaway than their adult counterparts. That’s not the case with the products on our list of the best headphones for kids, though.

We want our child-tailored headphones to include parental-controlled volume limiters, to ensure our children aren’t harming their eardrums. Pretty much every entry on our list checks this vital box, but we also wanted to point you and yours toward products that offer exceptional noise-canceling, built-in mics for phone and video calls, and long-lasting batteries for schooldays or a long flight.

Read more
How to master your equalizer settings for the perfect sound
An equalizer from eqMac.

While most people will simply flip on the radio or load up Spotify to listen to music, audiophiles like to dig a bit deeper and customize their experience. This often comes in the form of adjustments to the equalizer, which offers the freedom to tweak every aspect of the sound booming out of headphones or speakers. Even some streaming services now have built-in EQs, giving you more ways than ever to play with your music and find something that best fits your ears.

Tinkering with the equalizer can be daunting to newcomers, as there are tons of cryptic settings you can manipulate. And if you mess with the wrong one, your sound quality might take a nasty hit. Thankfully, learning the basics isn't too difficult.

Read more