Alice Munro, the renowned Canadian author and one of the few women to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, passed away at age 92, on the evening of Monday, May 13.
Over her career, Munro wrote more than a dozen acclaimed collections, centering on themes of womanhood, restlessness, and aging. Her ability to develop complex characters with depth in the short story format set her apart from other writers.
Born Alice Laidlaw on July 10, 1931, in Wingham, Ontario, Munro was the eldest child of Robert and Anne Laidlaw. She grew up on what she described as a “collapsing enterprise of a fox and mink farm” during the Great Depression. As the eldest child, Munro took on domestic responsibilities after her mother, a former schoolteacher, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Despite the challenges at home, Munro wrote short stories as a teenager and graduated valedictorian of her high school class in 1949, earning a two-year scholarship to the University of Western Ontario in London.
Her first published story, “The Dimensions of a Shadow,” appeared in Western’s undergraduate creative writing magazine, Folio. Two more pieces followed, all praised for their exploration of the lives of girls and women.
At university, she met James Munro, an honors history student, and also noticed Gerald Fremlin, an older student and Folio contributor. Alice and James married at her parents’ home in Wingham on December 29, 1951.
The Munros had three daughters — Sheila, Catherine, and Jenny — in the early years of their marriage, although Catherine passed away the same day she was born. Munro left university when her scholarship funds ran out, and the family eventually settled in West Vancouver’s Dundarave neighborhood.
Munro later said she focused on short stories—often seen as inferior to novels—because the demands of marriage and motherhood did not allow her the time to complete longer works.
In 1963, the Munros moved to Victoria and opened Munro’s Books on Yates Street and her first collection, “Dance of the Happy Shades,” was published in 1968, two years after the birth of her fourth daughter, Andrea.
After her marriage ended in 1972, Munro moved back to Ontario and reconnected with Fremlin. They married and moved to Clinton, Ontario. Fremlin, a retired geographer and cartographer, used the office in their home, while Munro wrote at a tiny desk facing a window overlooking the driveway from the corner of their dining room.
Over the decades, Munro received numerous literary honors, including two more Governor General’s Awards, two Giller Prizes, and the Man Booker International Prize. She accepted an honorary degree from her alma mater, Western University, which she described as “the only such honor” she ever accepted.
In mid-2013, shortly after the death of her second husband, Munro told the National Post that she was content with her career and “probably not going to write anymore.”
She won the Nobel Prize in Literature that October, becoming the 13th woman to receive the honor.
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