Bob Dylan 'speechless' at winning Nobel, finally says he'll accept prize

American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature earlier this month, has now told the Swedish Academy that he will accept the prize.

The notoriously media-shy Dylan had not made any comment on the $900,000 US prize, despite repeated attempts by award-givers the Swedish Academy to contact him since it named him as the winner on Oct. 13.

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The Nobel Foundation said in a statement that Dylan this week told Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, that he now accepts the prize.

"The news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless," Dylan told Danius, according to a statement posted Friday on the academy's website. "I appreciate the honour so much."

The committee that awarded the Nobel Prize to Dylan had said it was up to him whether to attend the prize-giving ceremony later this year or not.

"It has not yet been decided if Bob Dylan will attend any events during the Nobel Week in Stockholm in December," the Nobel Foundation said on Friday.

"The Nobel Foundation will share information as soon as it is available."

Separately, Dylan told British daily the Telegraph in an interview that he will be at the Nobel Prize ceremony if he can.

The 75-year-old singer-songwriter was awarded the prize on Oct. 13 "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

Dylan at first was silent after the announcement, and a member of the Swedish Academy called the silence "impolite and arrogant."