--- title: Nobel Prize Award: Patti Smith to Sing in Bob Dylan's Place description: Bob Dylan may have been left "speechless" after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in October, but he has something to be read. canonical: https://time.com/4590484/patti-smith-bob-dylan-nobel-prize-literature-stockholm/ author: Lucinda Shen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-05T17:16:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:10.367Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Nobel Prize Awards Get Patti Smith to Sing in Bob Dylan's Place og:description: He initially did not respond to the Swedish Academy for weeks after winning the prize. og:url: https://time.com/4590484/patti-smith-bob-dylan-nobel-prize-literature-stockholm/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt775b024bfc9bc8f8/6988b0a90a4a22cd209cc3e8/patti-smith.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Patti Smith holds press conference ahead of concert in Istanbul og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nobel Prize Awards Get Patti Smith to Sing in Bob Dylan's Place twitter:description: He initially did not respond to the Swedish Academy for weeks after winning the prize. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt775b024bfc9bc8f8/6988b0a90a4a22cd209cc3e8/patti-smith.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nobel Prize Committee Gets Patti Smith to Sing in Bob Dylan's Place by [Lucinda Shen](/author/lucinda-shen/) ## Lucinda Shen Dec 5, 2016 5:16 PM CUT  Patti Smith will be singing in Bob Dylan's stead. Patti Smith will be singing in Bob Dylan's stead.Veli Gurgah, Anadolu Agency/Getty Images by [Lucinda Shen](/author/lucinda-shen/) ## Lucinda Shen Dec 5, 2016 5:16 PM CUT Bob Dylan may have been left “speechless” after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in October, but he has provided something to be read at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony on Dec. 10 in Stockholm. You just won’t be hearing him read it in person. The famously reclusive singer, who took a while longer than most to respond the the Swedish Academy [after winning his award](http://time.com/4541726/bob-dylan-nobel-prize-member-arrogant/ "undefined"), will not attend the gala, but he has provided a speech that will be read out at the event, the Nobel Foundation revealed in a Monday tweet. > [](https://twitter.com/NobelPrize/status/805698801436594177) Singer-songwriter Patti Smith will fill in for Dylan, singing ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ at the award ceremony. > [](https://twitter.com/NobelPrize/status/805698687322169344) Dylan previously [told the Swedish Academy](http://time.com/4573189/bob-dylan-nobel-prize-ceremony/ "undefined") that he wished he could receive the prize personally, “but other commitments make it unfortunately impossible,” the [Associated Press reported.](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/78985a873d08493fbf8157271f6db840/academy-dylan-not-coming-stockholm-pick-his-nobel "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4590484/patti-smith-bob-dylan-nobel-prize-literature-stockholm/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4590484/patti-smith-bob-dylan-nobel-prize-literature-stockholm/"},"headline":"Nobel Prize Committee Gets Patti Smith to Sing in Bob Dylan's Place","datePublished":"2016-12-05T17:16:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:10.367Z","description":"He initially did not respond to the Swedish Academy for weeks after winning the prize.","url":"https://time.com/4590484/patti-smith-bob-dylan-nobel-prize-literature-stockholm/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bob Dylan","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt775b024bfc9bc8f8/6988b0a90a4a22cd209cc3e8/patti-smith.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lucinda Shen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lucinda-shen/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt775b024bfc9bc8f8/6988b0a90a4a22cd209cc3e8/patti-smith.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Patti Smith holds press conference ahead of concert in Istanbul","caption":"Patti Smith holds press conference ahead of concert in Istanbul","creditText":"Veli Gurgah, Anadolu Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4590484/patti-smith-bob-dylan-nobel-prize-literature-stockholm/","name":"Nobel Prize Committee Gets Patti Smith to Sing in Bob Dylan's Place"}}]}] ```