Alice Munro wins Man Booker International Prize
According to the official announcement, Alice Munro has won the International Man Booker Prize. "I am totally amazed and delighted," she said in a press release.
The judging committee, which included Southern California writer Jane Smiley, noted that Munro's reputation as a master of short fiction was deserved, but implies that the form was less meaningful than the quality of her work.
Alice Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels. To read Alice Munro is to learn something every time that you never thought of before.
Munro, who is 77, will be awarded a trophy and 60,000 pounds on June 25 in Dublin, Ireland.
-- Carolyn Kellogg
Photo: George Waldman for the Los Angeles Times
She rightly deserves any award she wins. Her tales keep with you long after you put the book, or as in my case kindle down.
Posted by: kevin | May 26, 2009 at 09:55 PM
Goooooooo Canada!
Alice Munro's stories are heart-wrenching yet very real -- no overdramatization, no gimmicks, just intelligent and sincere reflections of daily life. She deserves the win.
Posted by: Deidra | May 27, 2009 at 02:35 AM
Well deserved! In a life filled with non-fiction in every medium, reading Alice Munro is like a luxury vacation!!
Congratulations.
Posted by: Carol Winer | May 27, 2009 at 07:14 AM
The oberinflated reputation of Alice Munro continues to astound. (The again, with judges on the level of Jane Smiley ...) Significant that she is not cited for any single work (no suprise!) but for a career.
Posted by: Mandy | May 27, 2009 at 12:53 PM