Author's value went beyond the awards she won

Writer who found inspiration in the ordinary was first Canadian woman to win Nobel Prize

- DEBRA YEO, DEBORAH DUNDAS

Alice Munro, seen in 2005, filled her books with places and characters fellow Canadians could recognize.

One of Canada's most beloved authors, called the "greatest short story writer alive" when she won the Nobel Prize in 2013, has died. Alice Munro was 92.

A spokesperson for Penguin Random House Canada said Munro died Monday at home in Port Hope, Ont. She had been in frail health for years and often spoke of retirement, a decision that proved final after the author's 2012 collection, "Dear Life," was published.

The native of Wingham, Ont., began her career in the 1960s with her first collection of short stories, "Dance of the Happy Shades." She won the Governor General's Literary Award for that book, and won again in 1978 for "Who Do You Think You Are" and in 1986 for "The Progress of Love." Her accolades also included two Scotiabank Giller Prizes and the Man Booker International Award for her body of work.

But her value to Canadians went beyond the awards she won. Writing in 2013, former Toronto Star reporter Leslie Scrivener described Canadians' claim on her by saying, "Alice Munro is ours." "Her geography is ours. Open any of her books and you will find a story set on the Queen St. streetcar, or Kitsilano Beach, or on the Bay of Fundy. One of her characters is watching TV, riveted by news of a terrible fire in Toronto, the burning buildings once home to hippies, 'with their tarot cards and beads and paper flowers the size of pumpkins.' In another, you'll find a mention of Pierre Berton.