Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Munro's work has been described as revolutionizing the architecture of short stories, especially in its tendency to move forward and backward in time. Her stories have been said to "embed more than announce, reveal more than parade."
Munro's fiction is most often set in her native Huron County in southwestern Ontario. Her stories explore human complexities in an uncomplicated prose style. Munro's writing has established her as "one of our greatest contemporary writers of fiction", or, as
Cynthia Ozick
Cynthia Ozick (born April 17, 1928) is an American short story writer, novelist, and essayist.
Biography
Cynthia Ozick was born in New York City, the second of two children. She moved to the Bronx with her Belarusian-Jewish parents from Hlusk, ...
put it, "our
Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
." Munro has received many literary accolades, including the
2013 Nobel Prize in Literature
The 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Canadian writer Alice Munro (born 1931) as "master of the contemporary short story." She is the first Canadian and the 13th woman to receive the prize. and the 2009
Man Booker International Prize
The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize was announced ...
for her lifetime body of work. She is also a three-time winner of Canada's
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
Th ...
for fiction, and received the
Writers' Trust of Canada
The Writers' Trust of Canada (french: La Société d'encouragement aux écrivains du Canada) is a registered charity which provides financial support to Canadian writers.
Founded by Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Graeme Gibson, Margaret Laure ...
's 1996
Marian Engel Award
Marian may refer to:
People
* Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia
* Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name
* Marian (surname), a list of people so named
Places
* Marian, Iran (disambiguation)
* Marian, Queensla ...
and the 2004
Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. A ...
Wingham, Ontario
Wingham (2016 census population 2,934) is a community located in the municipality of North Huron, Ontario, Canada, which is located in Huron County. Wingham became part of North Huron in 2001 when the Ontario government imposed amalgamation on t ...
. Her father, Robert Eric Laidlaw, was a fox and mink farmer, and later turned to turkey farming. Her mother, Anne Clarke Laidlaw (née Chamney), was a schoolteacher. She is of Irish and Scottish descent; her father is a descendant of
James Hogg
James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many ...
, the Ettrick Shepherd.
Munro began writing as a teenager, publishing her first story, "The Dimensions of a Shadow", in 1950 while studying English and journalism at the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...
on a two-year scholarship. During this period she worked as a waitress, a tobacco picker, and a library clerk. In 1951, she left the university, where she had been majoring in English since 1949, to marry fellow student James Munro. They moved to
Dundarave, West Vancouver
West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is to the northwest of the city of Vancouver on the northern side of English Ba ...
, for James's job in a department store. In 1963, the couple moved to
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, where they opened Munro's Books, which still operates.
Career
Munro's highly acclaimed first collection of stories, ''Dance of the Happy Shades'' (1968), won the
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
Th ...
, then Canada's highest literary prize. That success was followed by ''Lives of Girls and Women'' (1971), a collection of interlinked stories. In 1978, Munro's collection of interlinked stories ''Who Do You Think You Are?'' was published (titled ''The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose'' in the United States). This book earned Munro a second Governor General's Literary Award. From 1979 to 1982, she toured Australia, China and Scandinavia for public appearances and readings. In 1980 Munro held the position of writer in residence at both the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...
and the
University of Queensland
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = B ...
.
From the 1980s to 2012, Munro published a short-story collection at least once every four years. First versions of Munro's stories have appeared in journals such as ''
The Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', ''
Narrative Magazine
''Narrative'' is an online magazine and website that is dedicated to advancing the literary arts in the digital age and publishes fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and art. It was founded in 2003.
History and profile
Founded in 2003, the l ...
'', and ''
The Paris Review
''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phil ...
''. Her collections have been translated into 13 languages. On 10 October 2013, Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, cited as a "master of the contemporary short story". She is the first Canadian and the 13th woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Munro is noted for her longtime association with editor and publisher Douglas Gibson. When Gibson left Macmillan of Canada in 1986 to launch the Douglas Gibson Books imprint at
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann.
History
It was found ...
, Munro returned the advance Macmillan had already paid her for '' The Progress of Love'' so that she could follow Gibson to the new company. Munro and Gibson have retained their professional association ever since; when Gibson published his memoirs in 2011, Munro wrote the introduction, and to this day Gibson often makes public appearances on Munro's behalf when her health prevents her from appearing personally.
Almost 20 of Munro's works have been made available for free on the web, in most cases only the first versions. From the period before 2003, 16 stories have been included in Munro's own compilations more than twice, with two of her works scoring four republications: "Carried Away" and "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage".
Film adaptations of Munro's short stories have included '' Martha, Ruth and Edie'' (1988), ''
Edge of Madness
''Edge of Madness'' is a 2002 drama film based on the short story ''A Wilderness Station'', written by Alice Munro. /sup> The Canadian film stars Brendan Fehr, Caroline Dhavernas, and Corey Sevier. Written by Charles K. Pitts and Anne Wheeler th ...
'' (2002), ''
Away from Her
''Away from Her'' is a 2006 Canadian independent drama film written and directed by Sarah Polley and starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent. Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy, Wendy Crewson, Alberta Watson, and Kristen Thomson are featured i ...
'' (2006), ''
Hateship, Loveship
''Hateship, Loveship'' is an American drama film directed by Liza Johnson and written by Mark Poirier, based on the 2001 short story " Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage" by Alice Munro. The film stars Kristen Wiig, Hailee Stei ...
Huron County, Ontario
Huron County is a county of the province of Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeast shore of its namesake, Lake Huron, in the southwest part of the province. The county seat is Goderich, also the county's largest community.
The popul ...
. Her strong regional focus is one of her fiction's features. Asked after she won the Nobel Prize, "What can be so interesting in describing small town Canadian life?" Munro replied, "You just have to be there!" Another feature is an omniscient narrator who serves to make sense of the world. Many compare Munro's small-town settings to writers from the rural American South. As in the works of
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...
and
Flannery O'Connor
Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries.
She was a Southern literature, Southe ...
, Munro's characters often confront deep-rooted customs and traditions, but her characters' reactions are generally less intense than their Southern counterparts'. Her male characters tend to capture the essence of the
everyman
The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them.
Origin
The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
, while her female characters are more complex. Much of Munro's work exemplifies the
Southern Ontario Gothic Southern Ontario Gothic is a subgenre of the Gothic novel genre and a feature of Canadian literature that comes from Southern Ontario. This region includes Toronto, Southern Ontario's major industrial cities (Windsor, London, Hamilton, Kitchener ...
literary genre.
Munro's work is often compared with the great short-story writers. In her stories, as in Chekhov's, plot is secondary and "little happens". As in Chekhov, Garan Holcombe says, "All is based on the epiphanic moment, the sudden enlightenment, the concise, subtle, revelatory detail." Munro's work deals with "love and work, and the failings of both. She shares Chekhov's obsession with time and our much-lamented inability to delay or prevent its relentless movement forward."
A frequent theme of her work, particularly in her early stories, has been the dilemmas of a girl coming of age and coming to terms with her family and her small hometown. In recent work such as ''Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage'' (2001) and '' Runaway'' (2004) she has shifted her focus to the travails of middle age, women alone, and the elderly. Her characters often experience a revelation that sheds light on, and gives meaning to, an event.
Munro's prose reveals the ambiguities of life: "ironic and serious at the same time," "mottoes of godliness and honor and flaming bigotry," "special, useless knowledge," "tones of shrill and happy outrage," "the bad taste, the heartlessness, the joy of it." Her style juxtaposes the fantastic and the ordinary, with each undercutting the other in ways that simply and effortlessly evoke life. Robert Thacker wrote:
Many critics have written that Munro's stories often have the emotional and literary depth of novels. Some have asked whether Munro actually writes short stories or novels. Alex Keegan, writing in ''Eclectica,'' gave a simple answer: "Who cares? In most Munro stories there is as much as in many novels."
Research on Munro's work has been undertaken since the early 1970s, with the first PhD thesis published in 1972. The first book-length volume collecting the papers presented at the
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...
first conference on her work was published in 1984, ''The Art of Alice Munro: Saying the Unsayable''. In 2003/2004, the journal ''Open Letter. Canadian quarterly review of writing and sources'' published 14 contributions on Munro's work. In autumn 2010, the ''Journal of the Short Story in English (JSSE)/Les cahiers de la nouvelle'' dedicated a special issue to Munro, and in May 2012 an issue of the journal ''Narrative'' focussed on a single story by Munro, "Passion" (2004), with an introduction, summary of the story, and five analytical essays.
Creating new versions
Munro publishes variant versions of her stories, sometimes within a short span of time. Her stories "Save the Reaper" and "Passion" came out in two different versions in the same year, in 1998 and 2004 respectively. Two other stories were republished in a variant versions about 30 years apart, "Home" (1974/2006/2014) and "Wood" (1980/2009).
In 2006 Ann Close and Lisa Dickler Awano reported that Munro had not wanted to reread the galleys of ''Runaway'' (2004): "No, because I'll rewrite the stories." In their symposium contribution ''An Appreciation of Alice Munro'' they say that of her story "Powers", for example, Munro did eight versions in all.
Awano writes that "Wood" is a good example of how Munro, "a tireless self-editor",Lisa Dickler Awano Kindling The Creative Fire: Alice Munro's Two Versions of "Wood" '' New Haven Review'', 30 May 2012. rewrites and revises a story, in this case returning to it for a second publication nearly 30 years later, revising characterizations, themes and perspectives, as well as rhythmic syllables, a conjunction or a punctuation mark. The characters change, too. Inferring from the perspective they take on things, they are middle-age in 1980, and in 2009 they are older. Awano perceives a heightened lyricism brought about not least by the poetic precision of the revision Munro undertakes. The 2009 version comprises eight sections to the 1980 version's three, and has a new ending. Awano writes that Munro literally "refinishes" the first take on the story with an ambiguity characteristic of Munro's endings, and that Munro reimagines her stories throughout her work a variety of ways.
Several stories were republished with considerable variation as to which content goes into which section. This can be seen, for example, in "Home", "The Progress of Love", "What Do You Want to Know For?", "The Children Stay", "Save the Reaper", "The Bear Came Over the Mountain", "Passion", "The View From Castle Rock", "Wenlock Edge", and "Deep-Holes".
Personal life
She married James Munro in 1951. Their daughters Sheila, Catherine, and Jenny were born in 1953, 1955, and 1957, respectively; Catherine died the day of her birth due to the lack of functioning kidneys.
In 1963, the Munros moved to
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, where they opened Munro's Books, a popular bookstore still in business. In 1966, their daughter Andrea was born. Alice and James Munro divorced in 1972.
Munro returned to Ontario to become writer in residence at the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...
, and in 1976 received an honorary LLD from the institution. In 1976, she married Gerald Fremlin, a cartographer and geographer she met in her university days. The couple moved to a farm outside Clinton, Ontario, and later to a house in Clinton, where Fremlin died on 17 April 2013, aged 88. Munro and Fremlin also owned a home in
Comox, British Columbia
Comox () is a town on the southern coast of the Comox Peninsula in the Strait of Georgia on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Thousands of years ago, the warm dry summers, mild winters, fertile soil, and abundant sea life ...
.
At a Toronto appearance in October 2009, Munro indicated that she had received treatment for cancer and for a heart condition requiring coronary-artery bypass surgery.
In 2002, Sheila Munro published a childhood memoir, ''Lives of Mothers and Daughters: Growing Up with Alice Munro''.
Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You
''Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You'' is a book of short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent ...
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
Th ...
Open Secrets
''Open Secrets'' () is a book of short stories by Alice Munro published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente buil ...
'' – 1994 (nominated for a
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
Th ...
)
*''
The Love of a Good Woman
''The Love of a Good Woman'' is a collection of short stories by Canadian writer Alice Munro, published by McClelland and Stewart in 1998.
The eight stories of this collection (one of which was originally published in '' Saturday Night''; five ot ...
'' – 1998 (winner of the 1998
Giller Prize
The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competitio ...
and the 1998
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
''Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage'' is a book of short stories by Alice Munro, published by McClelland and Stewart in 2001.
In 2006, the story "The Bear Came over the Mountain" was adapted into a film, ''Away from Her'', dir ...
'' – 2001 (republished as ''Away from Her'')
*'' Runaway'' – 2004 (winner of the
Giller Prize
The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competitio ...
and
Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. A ...
)
*''
The View from Castle Rock
''The View from Castle Rock'' is a book of short stories by Canadian author Alice Munro, recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, which was published in 2006 by McClelland and Stewart.
It is a collection of historical and autobiographica ...
*'' Selected Stories'' (later retitled ''Selected Stories 1968–1994'' and ''A Wilderness Station: Selected Stories, 1968–1994'') – 1996
*'' No Love Lost'' – 2003
*''
Vintage Munro
There are a list of short stories written by Alice Munro. It includes stories that were published in single-author collections (books), the first story ever published, "The Dimensions of a Shadow" (1950), and other stories having appeared elsewher ...
'' – 2004
*''Alice Munro's Best: A Selection of Stories'' – Toronto 2006 / ''Carried Away: A Selection of Stories'' – New York 2006; both 17 stories (spanning 1977–2004) with an introduction by Margaret Atwood
*''My Best Stories'' – 2009
*''New Selected Stories'' – 2011
* ''Lying Under the Apple Tree. New Selected Stories'', 434 pages, 15 stories, c Alice Munro 2011, Vintage, London 2014, paperback
* ''Family Furnishings: Selected Stories 1995–2014'' – 2014
Selected awards and honours
Awards
*
Governor General's Literary Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...
for English language fiction (1968, 1978, 1986)
* Canadian Booksellers Award for ''Lives of Girls and women'' (1971)
* Shortlisted for the annual (UK) Booker Prize for Fiction (1980) for ''The Beggar Maid''
* The
Writers' Trust of Canada
The Writers' Trust of Canada (french: La Société d'encouragement aux écrivains du Canada) is a registered charity which provides financial support to Canadian writers.
Founded by Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Graeme Gibson, Margaret Laure ...
's
Marian Engel Award
Marian may refer to:
People
* Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia
* Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name
* Marian (surname), a list of people so named
Places
* Marian, Iran (disambiguation)
* Marian, Queensla ...
(1986) for her body of work
*
Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. A ...
(2004) for ''Runaway''
* Trillium Book Award for ''Friend of My Youth'' (1991), ''The Love of a Good Woman'' (1999) and ''Dear Life'' (2013)
*
WH Smith Literary Award
The WH Smith Literary Award was an award founded in 1959 by British high street retailer W H Smith. Its founding aim was stated to be to "encourage and bring international esteem to authors of the British Commonwealth"; originally open to all re ...
(1995, UK) for ''
Open Secrets
''Open Secrets'' () is a book of short stories by Alice Munro published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente buil ...
''
*
Lannan Literary Award for Fiction
The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...
(1995)
*
PEN/Malamud Award
The PEN/Malamud Award and Memorial Reading honors "excellence in the art of the short story", and is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The selection committee is composed of PEN/Faulkner directors and representatives of Bernard Ma ...
for Excellence in Short Fiction (1997)
*
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".The Love of a Good Woman
''The Love of a Good Woman'' is a collection of short stories by Canadian writer Alice Munro, published by McClelland and Stewart in 1998.
The eight stories of this collection (one of which was originally published in '' Saturday Night''; five ot ...
''
*
Giller Prize
The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competitio ...
Edward MacDowell Medal
The Edward MacDowell Medal is an award which has been given since 1960 to one person annually who has made an outstanding contribution to American culture and the arts. It is given by MacDowell, the first artist residency program in the United Sta ...
for outstanding contribution to the arts by the
MacDowell Colony
MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowel ...
(2006).
*
O. Henry Award
The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry.
The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty best ...
for continuing achievement in short fiction in the U.S. for "Passion" (2006), "What Do You Want To Know For" (2008) and "Corrie" (2012)
*
Man Booker International Prize
The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize was announced ...
(2009, UK)
* Canada-Australia Literary Prize
*
Commonwealth Writers Prize
Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
Regional Award for Canada and the Caribbean.
* Nobel Prize in Literature (2013) as a "master of the contemporary short story".
Honours
* 1992: Foreign Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
Lorne Pierce Medal The Lorne Pierce Medal is awarded every two years by the Royal Society of Canada to recognize achievement of special significance and conspicuous merit in imaginative or critical literature written in either English or French. The medal was first aw ...
Royal Canadian Mint
}) is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under the ''Royal Canadian Mint Act''. The shares of the Mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada.
The Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufacture ...
in honour of Munro's Nobel Prize win
*2015: Postage stamp released by
Canada Post
Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...
Russell Banks
Russell Banks (born March 28, 1940) is an American writer of fiction and poetry. As a novelist, Banks is best known for his "detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters". His stories usua ...
,
Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel '' The Hours'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is a senior lectur ...
, Charles McGrath, Daniel Menaker and others) presented in first-person essay format
*Awano, Lisa Dickler "Kindling The Creative Fire: Alice Munro's Two Versions of 'Wood.'" ''New Haven Review'' (30 May 2012). Examining overall themes in Alice Munro's fiction through a study of her two versions of "Wood."
*Awano, Lisa Dickler "Alice Munro's Too Much Happiness." ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' (22 October 2010). Long-form book review of ''Too Much Happiness'' in the context of Alice Munro's canon.
*Besner, Neil Kalman. ''Introducing Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women: a reader's guide.'' (Toronto: ECW Press, 1990)
*Blodgett, E. D. ''Alice Munro.'' (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988)
*Buchholtz, Miroslawa (ed.). ''Alice Munro. Understanding, Adapting, Teaching'' (Springer International Publishing, 2016)
*Carrington, Ildikó de Papp. ''Controlling the Uncontrollable: the fiction of Alice Munro.'' (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1989)
*Carscallen, James. ''The Other Country: patterns in the writing of Alice Munro.'' (Toronto: ECW Press, 1993)
*Cox, Alisa. ''Alice Munro.'' (Tavistock: Northcote House, 2004)
*Dahlie, Hallvard. ''Alice Munro and Her Works.'' (Toronto: ECW Press, 1984)
*Davey, Frank. 'Class, Family Furnishings, and Munro's Early Stories.' In Ventura and Conde. 79–88.
*de Papp Carrington, Ildiko."What's in a Title?: Alice Munro's 'Carried Away.'" Studies in Short Fiction. 20.4 (Fall 1993): 555.
*Dolnick, Ben ''
The Millions
''The Millions'' is an online literary magazine created by C. Max Magee in 2003. It contains articles about literary topics and book reviews.
''The Millions'' has several regular contributors as well as frequent guest appearances by literary no ...
'' (5 July 2012)
*Elliott, Gayle. "A Different Track: Feminist meta-narrative in Alice Munro's 'Friend of My Youth.'" ''Journal of Modern Literature''. 20.1 (Summer 1996): 75.
*Fowler, Rowena. "The Art of Alice Munro: The Beggar Maid and Lives of Girls and Women." ''Critique''. 25.4 (Summer 1984): 189.
*Garson, Marjorie. "Alice Munro and Charlotte Bronte." ''University of Toronto Quarterly'' 69.4 (Fall 2000): 783.
*Genoways, Ted. "Ordinary Outsiders." ''Virginia Quarterly'' Review 82.3 (Summer 2006): 80–81.
* Gibson, Douglas. ''Stories About Storytellers: Publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, and Others.'' (ECW Press, 2011. Excerpt. *Gittings, Christopher E.. "Constructing a Scots-Canadian Ground: Family history and cultural translation in Alice Munro." ''Studies in Short Fiction'' 34.1 (Winter 1997): 27
*Hebel, Ajay. ''The Tumble of Reason: Alice Munro's discourse of absence.'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994)
*Hiscock, Andrew. "Longing for a Human Climate: Alice Munro's 'Friend of My Youth' and the culture of loss." ''Journal of Commonwealth Literature'' 32.2 (1997): 18.
*Hooper, Brad ''The Fiction of Alice Munro: An Appreciation'' (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2008),
*Houston, Pam. "A Hopeful Sign: The making of metonymic meaning in Munro's 'Meneseteung.'" ''Kenyon Review'' 14.4 (Fall 1992): 79.
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