Alice Munro wins Nobel Prize

Alice Munro wins the Nobel Prize

for Literature

    I was delighted to hear this morning that Alice Munro, the Canadian author who has developed the short story genre to an art form unrivalled in its history, has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

    It's probably been about twenty-five years since I last read any of her works, but we are bringing her books off the shelves to read anew, and I suspect that all over Canada people are doing the same thing.

    Alice Munro was born, and still lives in nearby Huron County, and the rural inhabitants of that county are the principal source for the characters in her stories. She has an incredible knack for examining the lives of ordinary people and making them relevant to all humanity.

    The short story genre has often received short shrift in the literary world and it is very encouraging to see the prominence it has now attained. The only other two Canadians that I can recall as having been short-listed by the Nobel committee are Robertson Davies and Margaret Atwood, so Alice Munro has truly vaulted over giants.

    It's an unprecedented honour for Canada, one in which we can all take pride, and bask in the reflected glory of our native daughter.

    I realize that my blog is a birding blog and this announcement has nothing to do with birding. Nothing, however, seemed more important to write about today. Congratulations to Alice Munro and hallelujah for the spotlight it has directed to Canadian literature in general; an oeuvre of which we can all be proud.