Bob Dylan's continued silence over his Nobel Prize for Literature is "impolite and arrogant", according to a member of the panel that awarded him the honour.

The singer-songwriter was a surprise choice for the award, which credits Dylan for "new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

The Swedish Academy says it has failed to speak to the 75-year-old since it made the announcement on 13 October.

Academy member Per Wastberg said Dylan's lack of reaction to the award was predictable but disrespectful.

Image: The laureate began his career as the leading light of the early 1960s folk boom

"One can say that it is impolite and arrogant," he told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.


"He is who he is."

A short mention of the honour was posted on Dylan's website almost a week after the announcement, but it was later removed.

The songwriter's official Twitter and Facebook accounts also published brief mentions of the award.

Barack Obama took the time to congratulate Dylan, writing on Twitter that the Nobel was "well-deserved".

Congratulations to one of my favorite poets, Bob Dylan, on a well-deserved Nobel. https://t.co/c9cnANWPCS — President Obama (@POTUS) October 13, 2016

Dylan's muted reaction to the award has prompted speculation that the musician may not attend the prize-giving ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December.

But Swedish Academy permanent secretary Sara Danius said she was "not at all worried".

She told Swedish state radio SR: "I think he will show up.

"If he doesn't want to come, he won't come. It will be a big party in any case and the honour belongs to him."

Image: Bob Dylan pictured during a visit to London in 1966

Ms Danius added: "I have called and sent emails to his closest collaborator and received very friendly replies. For now, that is certainly enough."

The Nobel Prize is not the first highly coveted award Dylan has won - he was also given the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for his contribution to American music and culture.

Professor Seamus Perry, chair of the English Faculty at Oxford University, said Dylan's Nobel Prize "was always the thing that you thought should happen in a reasonable world but still seemed quite unimaginable in this one."

Image: Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dylan in 2012

Memorable Dylan Lyrics

:: Blowin' in the Wind

"How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?"

:: Hurricane

"How can the life of such a man, be in the palm of some fool's hand? To see him obviously framed, couldn't help but make me feel ashamed."

:: Like a Rolling Stone

"You used to laugh about, everybody that was hanging out. Now you don't talk so loud, now you don't seem so proud, about having to be scrounging for your next meal."

:: Shelter from the Storm

"I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form. 'Come in,' she said, 'I'll give ya shelter from the storm'."

:: Ain't Talkin'

"Ain't talkin', just walkin' up the road, around the bend. Heart burnin', still yearnin' in the last outback at the world's end."