World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Alice Munro

アリス・マンロー

Arisu Manrō

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1931-07-10 （Wingham, Ontario, Canada）
Died
2024-05-13 （Port Hope, Ontario, Canada） age 92
Nationality
Canada
Languages
English
Residence History
Wingham, Ontario, Canada → Dundarave, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada → Victoria, British Columbia, Canada → Farm outside Clinton, Ontario, Canada → Comox, British Columbia, Canada → Port Hope, Ontario, Canada

Career

Occupations
Short story writer
Active Years
1950-2013
Affiliations
University of British Columbia (writer-in-residence), University of Queensland (writer-in-residence), University of Western Ontario (writer-in-residence)
Memberships
Royal Society of Canada, American Academy of Arts and Letters (Honorary Member)
Influenced By
Anton Chekhov, John Cheever, James Hogg (ancestral/poetic influence)
Influenced
Margaret Atwood (praised/acknowledged influence), Many contemporary short story writers (Canada and internationally)
Nominations
Booker Prize (1980) - Who Do You Think You Are? (The Beggar Maid) shortlisted, Giller Prize (nominated/won 1998, 2004)

Education

University of Western Ontario
English and Journalism
Period: 1949–1951
Country: Canada
Attended on a scholarship; published first story while studying. Left undergraduate studies in 1951 to marry.
University of Western Ontario (honorary)
Degree: LLD (honorary)
Period: 1976
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: Canada
Received an honorary LLD in 1976.

Awards

Nobel Prize in Literature
2013
Organization: Swedish Academy
Result: Winner
Man Booker International Prize
2009
Work: For her life's work
Organization: Booker Prize Foundation
Result: Winner
Governor General's Award (English-language fiction)
1968
Work: Dance of the Happy Shades
Organization: Governor General's Awards
Result: Winner
Governor General's Award (English-language fiction)
1978
Work: Who Do You Think You Are?
Organization: Governor General's Awards
Result: Winner
Governor General's Award (English-language fiction)
1986
Work: The Progress of Love
Organization: Governor General's Awards
Result: Winner
Booker Prize (shortlisted)
1980
Work: Who Do You Think You Are? (international title: The Beggar Maid)
Organization: Booker Prize Foundation
Result: Shortlisted
Scotiabank Giller Prize
2004
Work: Runaway
Organization: Giller Prize Foundation
Result: Winner
Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
2004
Work: Runaway
Organization: Writers' Trust of Canada
Result: Winner
National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
1998
Work: The Love of a Good Woman
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: Winner
Rea Award for the Short Story
2001
Work: For continuing achievement in the short story
Organization: Rea Award Foundation
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Dance of the Happy Shades

1968 Short fiction/short story collection

Early collection of short stories focusing on small-town life and family dynamics.

small-town lifecoming of agefamily

Lives of Girls and Women

1971 Short story cycle/collection

A cycle of interlinked stories tracing a girl's coming-of-age and self-discovery.

coming of agefemale perspectiveregional life

Who Do You Think You Are? (The Beggar Maid)

1978 Short story cycle

Interlinked stories following a woman's life and identity.

identityrelationshipspassage of time

The Moons of Jupiter

1982 Short story collection

Stories that explore family, aging and loss with a mature perspective.

familylossaging

The Progress of Love

1986 Short story collection

Short stories centered on love, family tensions and expectations.

lovedomestic lifeconflict

Friend of My Youth

1990 Short story collection

Stories reflecting on youth, memory and the past.

memoryyouthregional society

Open Secrets

1994 Short story collection

Stories about social and personal secrets and their revelation.

secretsrelationshipsinteriority

The Love of a Good Woman

1998 Short story collection

Collection exploring moral choices and consequences.

moralitychoicesconsequence

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage

2001 Short story collection

Stories depicting varied experiences of women at different life stages.

women's experiencesrelationship dynamicsmiddle age
Adaptations
  • [Film] Hateship, Loveship / Lilee? (2013)

Runaway

2004 Short story collection

Collection focusing on middle-aged women, solitude and escape.

solitudefemale interiorityescape
Adaptations
  • [Film] Julieta (partially based on Munro's stories) / Pedro Almodóvar (2016)

The View from Castle Rock

2006 Short story collection / linked non-fiction pieces

Stories mixing family history and memories of migration.

family historymigrationmemory

Too Much Happiness

2009 Short story collection

Stories that sometimes weave in historical figures and fate.

fatehistoryindividual choice

Dear Life

2012 Short story collection (late-career)

Late collection with autobiographical elements.

autobiographical elementsagingrecollection

Bibliography

  • 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? / The Beggar Maid (1978)
  • 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)
  • Runaway (2004)
  • The View from Castle Rock (2006)
  • Too Much Happiness (2009)
  • Dear Life (2012)

Adaptations

  • Multiple film adaptations including Away from Her (2006), Hateship, Loveship (2013), Julieta (2016) (partially)

Translations of Works

  • Works translated into 13+ languages

Style & Themes

Literary Style
concise, meticulous prose; frequent non-linear time shifts; often uses omniscient narrator
Recurring Motifs
small-town lifecoming of age and maturityfamily secrets and liesfemale perspectivetime and memory

Health

  • Cancer (treated)
    2009頃
    May have affected public appearances and activity
  • Coronary artery bypass surgery
    2009頃
    Reported as part of her medical history
  • Dementia
    少なくとも約12年間（晩年）
    Reported cognitive decline in later years; limited public activity and writing

Legacy

Munro is regarded as a major innovator of the short story form, celebrated as a 'master of the contemporary short story.' Her regional focus, female perspectives and temporal experimentation earned international acclaim culminating in the Nobel Prize. Revelations about private family matters after her death have prompted renewed reassessment of her legacy.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Canada

Archives

  • Alice Munro fonds — Special Collections, University of Calgary

In Popular Culture

  • Referenced widely in curricula and reading groups as a Canadian national literary figure

Quotes

  • 'A master of the contemporary short story'
    Source: Swedish Academy (Nobel Prize citation) (2013)

Trivia

  • Winner of the Governor General's Award in 1968 early in her career.
  • Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013; among the first Canadians and the 13th woman to receive the prize.
  • Stopped writing around 2013 and had reported health issues including dementia in later years.