Growing up in a family of fox and poultry farmers on a farm in Wingham Ontario, Alice Munro, nee Laidlaw, seemed an unlikely prospect to become one of Canada’s well known writers. However, in between helping out on the farm, picking tobacco and waitressing, Alice Munro proved herself an up and coming writer at the young age of 19 when she published her first short story, “The Dimensions of a Shadow”.
Mother First, Writer Later
Munro started her writing career at the University of Western Ontario; however, soon after her first story was published, she left school for another chosen journey. In 1951, she became the wife of James Munro and later mother to four daughters, Sheila, Catherine, Jenny and Andrea. They moved to Vancouver, British Columbia and then to Victoria, British Columbia where they opened up Munro’s Books.
Alice Munro began writing again and published her first collection of stories, Dance of the Happy Shades in 1968. She won the Governor General’s Award and was quickly recognized as an esteemed and talented author. Lives of Girls and Women followed and was also received with appraise from readers and critics.
A Second Beginning
Alice and her husband divorced in 1972 and she moved back to Ontario to a Writer in Residence position at the University of Western Ontario. She married Gerald Fremlin four years later and they moved to a farm in Clinton, Ontario where Munro continued her writing. She wrote Who Do You Think Your Are? in 1978, which earned her another Governor General’s Award.
Munro was able to mix business with pleasure as she travelled through Australia, China and Scandinavia. She simultaneously held down the position of Writer in Residence at both the University of British Columbia, in Canada, and the University of Queensland, in Australia in 1980.
Continued Success
During the next twenty years Munro continued her successful career with The Moons of Jupiter, The Progress of Love, Friend of my Youth, Open Secrets, The Love of a Good Woman, No Lost Love and Runaway. She added three more Governor General’s Nominations (one win), a Giller Prize and a Trillium Award, among many others, to her shelf of success.
She also freelances for esteemed publications such as The New Yorker, The Paris Review and Mademoiselle. In 2006, her short story, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” was made into a feature length film, entitled Away from Her. Adapted and directed by fellow Canadian Sarah Polley, the film was nominated for Best Screenplay at the 2007 Academy Awards.
Munro’s stories often focus around coming of age tales and deal with rooted customs, traditions and family. However, her stories are not just for those who can identify, but also for anyone who understands human nature. Her characters are faulty yet real; her stories are filled with eloquent prose yet ordinary situations; they bring you into the lives of the characters without forcing the story onto the reader. It is this talent that makes Alice Munro not only a natural storyteller, but an incredible writer as well.
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