When Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature on October 10 she wasn't even waiting for the phone to ring - she was in bed, asleep. After repeated attempts to contact the Canadian writer, the Swedish Academy ended up leaving her a voicemail message; she only found out about the GBP770,000 win when one of her daughters finally got through to her in the wee hours.
The story rings true. The 82-year-old short story writer is renowned as a modest, private person who doesn't court celebrity, and is happy to be able to wander freely, and observantly, around her little corner of Ontario.
There was a huge swell of delight - though not much surprise - at the announcement. Over the decades Munro has won numerous literary trophies, from the Man Booker International Prize in 2009 to countless North American awards. Often dubbed “the Canadian Chekhov”, she was described by Peter Englund, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, as a “master of the contemporary short story”. Her Nobel win nevertheless represented an important recognition: Munro is the first Canadian winner and only the 13th woman to win out of 110 Nobel laureates; the last was Herta Muller in 2009.