Desk Report: American songwriter, singer, artist, and writer Bob Dylan will not travel to Sweden to receive his Nobel Prize for Literature in person.

The Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel prizes, said in a statement Wednesday, it had received “a personal letter” saying he was unable to attend next month`s Nobel ceremony “due to pre-existing commitments”.

Dylan, the organisation said, felt “very honoured” and wished he could receive the prize personally.

The Nobel Prize award ceremony and banquet will be held in Stockholm on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel`s death.

The singer is required to give a Nobel lecture between now and next June.

“The prize still belongs to them, just as it belongs to Bob Dylan,” the Academy said in a statement.

“We look forward to Bob Dylan`s Nobel lecture, which he must give – it is the only requirement – within six months counting from December 10, 2016.”

Dylan`s win was a major talking point when it was announced last month, as was his apparent silence on the matter.

Some interpreted this as a sign he was ambivalent about the award, though the Academy later said he appreciated it “so much”.

The veteran rock star was awarded the prize “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.

The Nobel Prize in Literature may be the world’s most important literary award, but he 75-year-old will not be the first recipient of the prestigious award to have been a no-show at the prize-giving ceremony.

Among the reasons given by past laureates for failing to travel to Stockholm to accept the award: being gravely ill and in a wheelchair (Harold Pinter, 2005); being so anxious and agoraphobic that you are “not suited as a person to be dragged into public” (Elfriede Jelinek, 2004); and being a Soviet dissident terrified to leave the country because you might not be allowed back in (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1970).