Alice Munro was nowhere to be found on Thursday morning when the Swedish Academy awarded her the Nobel Prize in literature. The permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Peter Englund, had to leave her a voice mail. The short story writer surfaced briefly for a quick interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., and then dropped out of sight.
This is utterly in character, for Munro has never sought the spotlight during her remarkable career. The author of 14 books of fiction, she's well-known to readers around the globe and a perennial Nobel contender for the acuity of her vision, the precision of her voice. Now 82, Munro publishes regularly in the New Yorker, and several of her stories have been translated into film, including “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” which was adapted by Sarah Polley into the 2006 film “Away From Her.”
In 2009, Munro won the Man Booker International Prize for her body of work, and this year, shortly after the publication of her most recent story collection “Dear Life,” she announced she would not be writing anymore.
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