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    MUSIC icon Bob Dylan will finally receive his Nobel Literature Prize this weekend at a meeting with the Swedish Academy in Stockholm.

    But no media will be allowed to cover the meeting, and the reclusive Dylan will only give a lecture required of him in a taped version at a later date, it was announced yesterday.

    The 75-year-old kept silent for weeks after he was declared the Nobel literature laureate in October, and snubbed a ceremony in December to receive the prize.

    "The good news is that the Swedish Academy and Bob Dylan have decided to meet this weekend," Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Academy, wrote in a blog post. "The academy will then hand over Dylan’s Nobel diploma and the Nobel medal, and congratulate him on the Nobel Prize in Literature."She added: "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."Dylan is set to perform concerts on Saturday and Sunday in Stockholm, the first stop on his European tour. Danius didn’t specify if the meeting would be held before or after the concerts. But Dylan, the first songwriter to win the prestigious prize, will not hold the traditional Nobel lecture during the meeting, she said.

    Because the lecture is the only requirement to receive the US$870,000 that comes with the prize, Dylan will not be handed the money during his Stockholm visit, even though he will collect the Nobel medal.

    The lecture can take nearly any form, including a short speech, a performance, a video broadcast or even a song, but must be held within six months of December 10, the date of the Nobel prize ceremony and the anniversary of the death of its founder Alfred Nobel.

    "The academy has reason to believe that a taped version will be sent at a later point," Danius said, without specifying an exact date.

    Dylan, the songwriter of "Blowin’ In The wind," "Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door" and "Hurricane," has until June 10 to send his lecture.

    When Dylan was asked in October why he did not respond to the academy’s calls, he told the Daily Telegraph: "Well, I’m right here." The rock enigma later snubbed the Nobel ceremony in December because of "pre-existing commitments" which he never explained. But he sent a thank-you speech that was read aloud during the ceremony in Stockholm.

    Dylan apologized for not being able to attend the ceremony and expressed surprise over being chosen as a laureate in the league of authors like Ernest Hemingway and Albert Camus.