Alice Munro, Nobel Prize-winning short story writer, dies at the age of 92

The Canadian writer was described as a ‘master of contemporary narrative’ when he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013.

Alice Munro, the Nobel Prize-winning Canadian author who explored love, life and loss in short story collections such as Run away And Dance of the Happy Shades, died Monday evening at her home in Port Hope, Ontario. She was 92.

Her publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, announced the news on Tuesday. A cause of death was not disclosed, although Munro had lived with dementia for at least ten years.

The company’s CEO, Kristin Cochrane, said in a statement: “Alice Munro is a national treasure – a writer of enormous depth, empathy and humanity whose work is read, admired and cherished by readers across Canada and the rest of the world.” world. writing also inspired countless writers, and her work leaves an indelible mark on our literary landscape.”

Munro was heralded as one of the greatest writers of contemporary fiction, often compared to playwright and short story writer Anton Chekhov. Her awards include the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature, the 2009 Man Booker Prize for lifetime achievement, and Canada’s Governor General’s Award for Fiction, which she won three times.

Her short stories were celebrated for having as much literary and emotional depth as a novel. In addition to her tendency to play with time in her work, Munro’s stories often focused on the lives of women. In her early years as a writer she was concerned with women’s coming of age, and as she grew older she turned her attention to the misery of middle age and questions of loneliness.

Related: Celebrity Deaths 2024: Remembering the Stars We Lost This Year

“When I started writing there was a very small community of Canadian writers and little attention was paid to it by the world,” Munro said in a statement after receiving the Nobel Prize. “Now Canadian writers are read, admired and respected all over the world. I am so happy to have been chosen as this year’s Nobel Laureate. I hope this will further increase interest among all Canadian writers. I also hope that this will bring further recognition to the short story form.”

Alice Ann Laidlaw Munro was born on July 10, 1931 in Wingham, Ontario, the son of a farmer and a schoolteacher. She began writing as a teenager and her first short story, “The Dimensions of a Shadow,” was published in 1950 while she was a student at the University of Western Ontario.

Munro left university in 1951 to marry fellow student James Munro, and the couple moved to Victoria in 1963, where they founded the independent bookstore Munro’s Books, which still operates today.

Her first major collection of short stories, Dance of the Happy Shades, was published in 1968 and won Canada’s Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Her other two such wins came in 1978 Who do you think You Are? and 1986 The progress of love. She was nominated two more times, but did not win.

Who do you think You Are? was also published as The beggar girland it was shortlisted for the 1980 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Related: Alice Munro wins the Nobel Prize for Literature

From the early eighties until her last work, 2012 Dearest life, Munro published a new collection of short stories at least every four years, and sometimes more often. Her titles included Lives of girls and women, Open secrets, The love of a good woman, Run away, The view from Castle RockAnd Too much luck.

Munro was also known for revising and republishing her stories with significant edits (sometimes under new titles). Her work was also often collected and published in anthologies by other editors under titles such as Selected stories And Vintage Munro.

Her work has been regularly published in magazines around the world, including The Atlantic Month, The Paris Review, Harper’s BazaarAnd The New Yorker.

Sign up for Entertainment weekly free daily newsletter with breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars and more.

Munro’s work defined the Gothic subgenre of Southern Ontario and earned her comparisons to William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor, masters of American Southern Gothic. Entertainment weekly’s review of Dearest life praised “Munro’s gift of observation and ability to trace great emotional arcs in short brushstrokes.”

Much of Munro’s work has been made into a film, including that from 1988 Martha, Ruth and Eddie2002 Edge of madness2006 Away from herand that of 2016 Julia.

She and James Munro divorced in 1972. She married Gerald Fremlin in 1976, and they remained together until his death in 2013. Munro was preceded in death by a daughter, Catherine, who died the same day she was born in 1955. She survived. by her daughters Sheila and Jenny.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.