HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-10-17, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2013. PAGE 9. Munro awardedliterary Nobel Prize
Celebrated author and Huron
County resident Alice Munro can
now add the Nobel Prize for
Literature to her list of accolades.
The award for the Wingham native
was announced the morning of
Thursday, Oct. 10, in a presentation
that called Munro a “master of the
contemporary short story”.
“I knew I was in the running, yes,
but I never thought I would win,”
Munro told The Canadian Press,
adding that she was “just terribly
surprised” by the news.
Munro, who is now 82, is the first
Canadian-based writer to win the
award and the 13th woman to
receive the honour.
In addition to the honour and
recognition that comes along with
the award, Munro also received a
monetary prize of over $1.2 million.
“I am amazed and very grateful. I
am particularly glad that winning
this award will please so many
Canadians,” a statement released by
Munro read. “I’m happy that this
will bring more attention to
Canadian writing.”
Born Alice Laidlaw, she grew up
in the Lower Town area of Wingham
and attended both elementary and
high school there.
She had strong ties to the Blyth
area where her father, Robert, grew
up on a farm in Morris Township,
just north and east of Blyth. She has
told of coming to visit her
grandparents on the farm and, after
her grandfather died, in Blyth where
her grandmother bought a house at
the corner of Mill and Drummond
Streets.
She has written about her sense of
excitement as a child walking by
Blyth Memorial Hall because of
hearing about cantatas that took
place there, even if she didn’t know
what a cantata was.
She was honorary chair of the
fundraising committee that raised
money to build the major addition to
Memorial Hall in 1990. She also
took part in several fundraising
events for the Blyth Festival
including acting in two murder
mystery dinners.
Two of her short stories were
adapted as plays at the Festival, How
I Met My Husband in 1976 and
Courting Johanna by Marcia
Johnston.
On his website, Munro’s longtime
publisher Douglas Gibson wrote
about Munro’s connection to Blyth.
He said the village has “played a
major role in Alice’s life.” Her father
went to school in Blyth and
eventually began work with a
trapline along Blyth Creek.
In Wingham, Munro is celebrated
through an exhibit at the North
Huron Museum, the Alice Munro
Literary Garden and the Alice
Munro Walking Tour, which features
several locations that can be
pinpointed from Munro’s The Lives
of Girls and Women, published in
1971.
Wingham and Blyth last month
shared the Alice Munro Writers and
Readers Festival with events in both
communities.
North Huron Reeve Neil Vincent
sent his congratulations to North
Huron’s most-honoured native.
“We feel very honoured that she
wrote about things she knew. She
wrote about this area,” Vincent said
in a press release. “We are happy to
congratulate Ms. Munro on
receiving the Nobel Prize for
Literature. It is a great achievement
for herself and for Canadian
literature in general.”
After growing up in Wingham,
Munro attended the University of
Western Ontario where she met her
first husband, James Munro, and
moved with him to British
Columbia. She raised her family and
began writing there.
In 1976, after the break-up of her
first marriage she returned to
Ontario. She has lived in Clinton for
more than 20 years since she married
Gerald Fremlin, a Clinton native,
who returned to his hometown in
later life. Fremlin died earlier this
year.
Munro was praised by a number of
high profile Canadians on the social
networking website Twitter.
“On behalf of all Canadians,
congratulations to Alice Munro
‘master of the contemporary short
story,’ for her Nobel Prize in
Literature,” said Prime Minister
Stephen Harper.
“Hooray! Alice Munro wins the
2013 Nobel Prize in Literature,”
posted fellow Canadian author
Margaret Atwood.
Munro announced plans to retire
from writing after releasing her most
recent collection, entitled Dear
Life, which was published in
2012.
Blower project approved
Central Huron councillors learned
plans for the Clinton Sewage
Treatment blower project are
temporarily on hold as five bids
recently received all came in
considerably higher than the
$100,000 originally budgeted for the
project.
Nick Verhoeven, Director of
Municipal Services, says municipal
staff is now confident the lowest of
the five bids received better reflects
what the project will actually cost
and that the original budget was
misguided. At the Oct. 8 committee
of the whole meeting, his department
recommended accepting the bid of
$228,681.49 by Dean Lane
Contractors Ltd., and that work
begin in January 2014, with changes
to the capital budget forecast be
made as recommended within the
report.
Mayor Jim Ginn said given the
“payback” on the project is
significant, it is likely a wise move to
move forward with the project.
Councillor Dan Colquhoun agreed
that getting a generator was a good
idea and that council should “borrow
the money if we have to.”
Councillors supported a motion
that will allow for the project to
move forward in January at a cost of
$228,000.
***
Central Huron Fire Chief Steve
Cooke is being directed to look
towards the creation of waivers in
order to allow the practice of victory
rides on municipal fire trucks to
continue in the future.
Cooke noted several
municipalities have opted to
continue the practice following a
recent directive from the Fire
Marshal’s office to discontinue the
practice due to safety and liability
issues.
Cooke said that one positive aspect
of introducing waivers is they could
be signed well in advance of
tournaments. The newly-
recommended policy would also
require council to allow the Chief
Administrative Officer or clerk to
approve each ride.
A team effort
To help out local food banks, students at Maitland River Elementary School collected nearly
1,500 items of food in brown bags like the one shown above. Students, from left, Ashton
Remmington and Kaitlyn Hoover were among the nearly dozen students who helped move the
food out of the school for pickup on Wednesday, Oct. 9. (Denny Scott photo)
Dear Loyal Donors,
THANK YOU! Your generous support of the CKNX Healthcare Heroes
Radiothon over the past ten years has raised more than $900,000 for the
Wingham & District Hospital Foundation.
We hope to continue this great tradition of generosity at this year’s Radiothon.
With your continued support we know we will be able to meet our 2013 goal.
Kind Regards,
Russ Taylor, Board Chair
Wingham & District Hospital Foundation
2013 Radiothon Goal:
$90,000
for the purchase of
an Operating Room Table and Stretchers
Donations can be sent to:
270 Carling Terrace, PO Box 1228, Wingham, ON, N0G 2W0
CKNX Healthcare Heroes Radiothon
October 19, 2013
Listen live from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on
101.7 The One, AM920 and 94.5 The Bull
By Cheryl Heath
Special to The Citizen