Alice Munro

Alice Ann Munro (10 July 1931 – 13 May 2024) was a Canadian writer of short stories. Munro received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013.^[2] She was the first Canadian to win the award.^[3]

Alice Munro
Munro in 2006
Born	Alice Ann Laidlaw (1931-07-10)10 July 1931 Wingham, Ontario, Canada
Died	13 May 2024(2024-05-13) (aged 92) Port Hope, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Author
Language	English
Nationality	Canadian
Citizenship	Canada
Alma mater	University of Western Ontario[1]
Genre	Short stories
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 (1951–1972) Gerald Fremlin (1976–2013, his death)
Children	3

Career

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 on a two-year scholarship.^[4] She left college in 1951 to marry her friend James Munro.^[5]

In her stories Munro has changed the way people write short stories. Her stories usually start in a place where people do not expect. After that, the stories go back and forward in time.^[6]

Her first collection of short stories, Dance of the Happy Shades, was published by Ryerson Press in 1968. It won the 1968 Governor General's Award for Fiction.

Munro's most recent collection of short stories, Dear Life, was published in 2012 by McClelland and Stewart.

Personal life

Munro was born Alice Ann Laidlaw in Wingham, Ontario. Her father, Robert Eric Laidlaw, was a fox and mink farmer,^[7] and later turned to turkey farming.^[8] Her mother, Anne Clarke Laidlaw (née Chamney), was a schoolteacher.^[9]

Munro died at her home in Port Hope, Ontario on 13 May 2024 from problems caused by dementia at the age of 92.^[10][11]