SWEDEN/FILE: Canadian author Alice Munro, famous for her short stories, wins the Nobel literature prize

Record ID: 187277

  • Title: SWEDEN/FILE: Canadian author Alice Munro, famous for her short stories, wins the Nobel literature prize
  • Date: 10th October 2013
  • Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (OCTOBER 10, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BUILDING WHERE NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE IS BEING ANNOUNCED PERMANENT SECRETARY OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY, PETER ENGLUND, OPENING DOOR AND ENTERING ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Swedish) PERMANENT SECRETARY OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY, PETER ENGLUND, SAYING: "Good day all. Welcome to the stock exchange building, to the Swedish Academy. A few minutes ago we finished our meeting at which we decided who would be given this year's Nobel prize in literature. I can tell you that yes, it is a woman. Before I start to read from my little paper, I want you to be alert because the citation is very short. The Nobel prize in literature for 2013 is awarded to the Canadian author Alice Munro (AUDIO OF PEOPLE CHEERING AND APPLAUDING) - master of the contemporary short story. Full stop." ENGLUND PAUSES (SOUNDBITE) (English) PERMANENT SECRETARY OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY, PETER ENGLUND, SAYING: "And in English. The Nobel prize in literature for 2013 is awarded to the Canadian author Alice Munro - master of the contemporary short story. Thank you." ENGLUND WALKS AWAY ROOM WHERE INTERVIEWS ARE TAKING PLACE ENGLUND BEING INTERVIEWED CAMERA MAN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (English) PERMANENT SECRETARY OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY, PETER ENGLUND, SAYING: "She is an absolutely excellent author and not just in a technical sense. She has a power of observation that is almost uncanny and it could be - any intelligence and power of observation - could be a bit problematic because she sees through people." JOURNALISTS IN ROOM WHERE INTERVIEWS ARE TAKING PLACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PERMANENT SECRETARY OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY, PETER ENGLUND, SAYING: "Even when I said it, the hairs are standing back on my head. It was such, oh, God yes of course, it can be that way as well. That can be one of the greatest sacrifices you can do - to give up your hope of changing your life, it will stay the same. We will grow old together. Nothing will change." PHOTOGRAPHER LOOKING THROUGH LENS JOURNALISTS WORKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) PERMANENT SECRETARY OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY, PETER ENGLUND, SAYING: "We're trying to be on par with the laureate who has always written very succinctly, shortly, to the point so it wouldn't really fit to be very floral and long sentences when you have someone who is very, stands for economy of expression like Alice Munro." VARIOUS OF MUNRO'S BOOKS ON TABLE
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sweden
  • Country: Sweden
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVADE377VNK60BJWZI8RDMJL605X
  • Story Text: Canadian Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday (October 10) for her tales of the struggles, loves and tragedies of women in small-town Canada that made her what the award-giving committee called the "master of the contemporary short story".

    "A few minutes ago we finished our meeting at which we decided who would be given this year's Nobel prize in literature. I can tell you that yes, it is a woman. Before I start to read from my little paper, I want you to be alert because the citation is very short. The Nobel prize in literature 2013 is awarded the Canadian author Alice Munro - master of the contemporary short story. Full stop," Permanent Secretary to the Swedish Academy Peter Englund said as he announced the prize of 8 million crowns (1.25 million U.S. dollars).
    Munro, in a phone interview with Canadian CBC Television, said she hoped the award "would make people see the short story as an important art; not just something you played around with until you get a novel written."
    The 82-year-old said however that she did not think winning the prize would change the decision she made earlier this year to retire.
    The short story, a style more popular in the 19th and early 20th century, has long taken a back seat to the novel in popular tastes. Short stories tend to be set in a more concentrated time frame with a more limited number of characters.
    Munro's merit, in the eyes of her admirers, was to introduce into the stories a richness of plot and depth of detail usually more characteristic of novels.

    "She is an absolutely excellent author and not just in a technical sense," Englund said after the announcement.

    "She has a power of observation that is almost uncanny and it could be - any intelligence and power of observation - could be a bit problematic because she sees through people."
    Munro started writing stories in her teens and has published many collections over the years. Her works include "The View from Castle Rock" in 2006 and "Too Much Happiness" three years later.
    Englund recalled reading one of Munro's short stories and admitted the memory of it was powerful.

    "Even when I said it, the hairs are standing back on my head," he said.

    "It was such, oh, God yes of course, it can be that way as well. That can be one of the greatest sacrifices you can do - to give up your hope of changing your life, it will stay the same. We will grow old together. Nothing will change."
    Munro becomes the second Canadian-born writer to win the prize, although she is the first winner to be thought of as distinctly Canadian. Saul Bellow, who won the award in 1976, was born in Quebec but raised in Chicago and is widely considered an American writer.
    Commenting on the very short citation given, Englund said he was a man of few words but also felt that a long and flowery citation would have been inappropriate for an author like Munro.

    "We're trying to be on par with the laureate who has always written very succinctly, shortly, to the point so it wouldn't really fit to be very floral and long sentences when you have someone who is very, stands for economy of expression like Alice Munro," he said.
    Munro lives in Clinton, not far from her childhood home in south-western Ontario, Canada. She is known to be averse to publicity and rarely gives interviews.
    The literature prize is the fourth of this year's crop of prizes, which were established in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and awarded for the first time in 1901.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register