Due to health concerns, acclaimed author Ray Bradbury won’t attend Manifest on May 15, or speak at the School of Media Arts commencement on May 17, where he was scheduled to receive an honorary degree from Columbia.

“He had full intentions of coming, but at 88 years old, his health is just too delicate to risk traveling across country,” said Sam Weller, faculty member of the Fiction Writing Department and Bradbury’s official biographer.

Bradbury will accept the honorary degree from his home in Los Angeles and has recorded a speech to be broadcast on large video screens at commencement.

“He will be there,” said Mark Kelly, vice president of Student Affairs. “We have already videotaped his commencement speech, which is just […] a grand slam. It will be a very moving event.”

The parade will go on as planned, with costumes and puppets styled in tribute to Bradbury’s characters in novels like Something Wicked This Way Comes and Farenheit 451. Manifest officials are working on plans to keep  Bradbury at the parade—in spirit.

“They’re trying to coerce me into being a faux-Bradbury,” Weller said. “I’d rather be a character, but if they really want me to be Ray Bradbury, then, whatever, I’ll do it.”