Alice Munro facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alice Munro
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Munro in 2006
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| Born | Alice Ann Laidlaw 10 July 1931 Wingham, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | 13 May 2024 (aged 92) Port Hope, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Short-story writer |
| Language | English |
| Alma mater | The University of Western Ontario |
| Genre | Short fiction, short story cycle, literary fiction |
| Notable awards | Governor General's Award (1968, 1978, 1986) Giller Prize (1998, 2004) Man Booker International Prize (2009) Nobel Prize in Literature (2013) |
| Spouse |
James Munro
(m. 1951; div. 1972)Gerald Fremlin
(m. 1976; died 2013) |
| Children | 3 |
Alice Ann Munro (born Laidlaw; July 10, 1931 – May 13, 2024) was a famous Canadian writer. She was known for her amazing short stories. In 2013, she won the Nobel Prize in Literature, which is one of the highest awards a writer can receive.
Many people say Alice Munro changed how short stories are written. Her stories often jump back and forth in time. She was also great at linking several short stories together. Her writing style was simple, but her stories explored complex human feelings.
Munro's stories are usually set in her home area of Huron County, Ontario in Canada. She is seen as one of the greatest modern fiction writers. She won many awards, including the Man Booker International Prize in 2009 for all her work. She also won Canada's Governor General's Award for Fiction three times.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Alice Ann Laidlaw was born in Wingham, Ontario. Her father, Robert Eric Laidlaw, raised foxes and minks, and later turkeys. Her mother, Anne Clarke Laidlaw, was a schoolteacher. Her family had roots in Ireland and Scotland.
Alice started writing when she was a teenager. Her first story, "The Dimensions of a Shadow," was published in 1950. At that time, she was studying English and journalism at the University of Western Ontario. To pay for her studies, she worked as a waitress, a tobacco picker, and a library helper.
In 1951, she left university to marry James Munro. They moved to Dundarave, West Vancouver. In 1963, they moved to Victoria and opened a bookstore called Munro's Books. This bookstore is still open today.
Writing Career and Success
Alice Munro's first collection of stories was called Dance of the Happy Shades (1968). It was very popular and won the Governor General's Award. This was Canada's top literary prize at the time.
After that, she published Lives of Girls and Women (1971), which was a collection of connected stories. In 1978, her book Who Do You Think You Are? came out. This book won her a second Governor General's Award. It was also considered for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1980.
From 1979 to 1982, Alice Munro traveled to Australia, China, and Scandinavia for readings. She also worked as a writer-in-residence at the University of British Columbia and the University of Queensland. This means she was a visiting writer who helped students.
From the 1980s until 2012, Munro published a new short-story collection almost every four years. Her stories first appeared in famous magazines like The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly. Her books have been translated into 13 different languages.
On October 10, 2013, Alice Munro received the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was called a "master of the contemporary short story." She was the first Canadian and the 13th woman to win this important award.
Alice Munro worked closely with her editor and publisher, Douglas Gibson, for many years. She even followed him to a new publishing company because she trusted him so much.
Some of Alice Munro's short stories have been made into movies. These include Away from Her (2006) and Julieta (2016).
Her Writing Style
Many of Alice Munro's stories are set in Huron County, Ontario, where she grew up. She often focused on life in small Canadian towns. When asked why small-town life was so interesting, she simply said, "You just have to be there."
Her stories often have a narrator who helps make sense of the world. Her writing is often compared to famous short-story writers like Anton Chekhov. Like Chekhov, Munro's stories don't always have a big plot. Instead, they focus on small, important moments that reveal something new.
Munro's stories explore "love and work, and the failings of both." She was interested in how time passes and how we can't stop it. Many of her early stories were about girls growing up and dealing with their families and small towns. Later, she wrote about older women and the challenges of middle age.
Her writing shows the complicated parts of life. It can be serious and funny at the same time. Critics often say that Munro's short stories have the same deep feelings and literary quality as full-length novels.
Changing Her Stories
Alice Munro often wrote different versions of her stories. Sometimes, she would publish two different versions of the same story in the same year. For example, "Save the Reaper" and "Passion" both had two versions published in 1998 and 2004.
She was known for being a very careful editor of her own work. She would rewrite and change her stories many times. For instance, she wrote eight versions of her story "Powers." She would change characters, themes, and even small details like words or punctuation.
Sometimes, she would go back to a story many years later and rewrite it. For example, her story "Wood" was first published in 1980 and then a new version came out in 2009. The characters in the later version were older, and the story had a new ending. This shows how she kept reimagining her stories.
Personal Life
Alice married James Munro in 1951. They had three daughters: Sheila, Catherine, and Jenny. Sadly, Catherine died the day she was born. In 1966, they had another daughter, Andrea. Alice and James Munro divorced in 1972.
Alice Munro then returned to Ontario. In 1976, she married Gerald Fremlin, whom she had known from her university days. They lived on a farm and later in a house in Clinton, Ontario. Gerald Fremlin passed away in 2013.
In 2009, Alice Munro shared that she had been treated for cancer and a heart condition. Her daughter, Sheila Munro, wrote a book in 2002 about growing up with her mother, called Lives of Mothers and Daughters: Growing Up with Alice Munro.
Her Passing
Alice Munro passed away on May 13, 2024, in an care home in Ontario. She had been living with dementia for at least 12 years.
Her Books
Original Short Story Collections
- Dance of the Happy Shades – 1968
- Lives of Girls and Women – 1971
- Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You – 1974
- Who Do You Think You Are? – 1978 (also known as The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose)
- The Moons of Jupiter – 1982
- The Progress of Love – 1986
- Friend of My Youth – 1990
- Open Secrets – 1994
- The Love of a Good Woman – 1998
- Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage – 2001 (also known as Away from Her)
- Runaway – 2004
- The View from Castle Rock – 2006
- Too Much Happiness – 2009
- Dear Life – 2012
Collected Stories
- Selected Stories – 1996
- No Love Lost – 2003
- Vintage Munro – 2004
- Alice Munro's Best: A Selection of Stories – 2006 (also Carried Away: A Selection of Stories)
- My Best Stories – 2009
- New Selected Stories – 2011
- Lying Under the Apple Tree. New Selected Stories – 2014
- Family Furnishings: Selected Stories 1995–2014 – 2014
Awards and Honours
Awards
- Governor General's Literary Award (1968, 1978, 1986)
- Canadian Booksellers Award (1971)
- Shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction (1980)
- Writers' Trust of Canada's Marian Engel Award (1986)
- Trillium Book Award (1991, 1999, 2013)
- WH Smith Literary Award (1995)
- Lannan Literary Award for Fiction (1995)
- PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction (1997)
- National Book Critics Circle Award (1998)
- Giller Prize (1998 and 2004)
- Rea Award for the Short Story (2001)
- Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize (2004)
- Edward MacDowell Medal (2006)
- O. Henry Award (2006, 2008, 2012)
- Man Booker International Prize (2009)
- Canada-Australia Literary Prize
- Commonwealth Writers Prize Regional Award
- Nobel Prize in Literature (2013)
Honours
- 1992: Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 1993: Royal Society of Canada's Lorne Pierce Medal
- 2005: Medal of Honor for Literature from the U.S. National Arts Club
- 2010: Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France)
- 2014: Silver coin released by the Royal Canadian Mint
- 2015: Postage stamp released by Canada Post
Images for kids
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This image shows how Alice Munro changed sections of her story "Wood" over time.
See also
In Spanish: Alice Munro para niños
