Canadian author Alice Munro (1997 interview) | Fresh Air

The writer Alice Munro was a craftsman, known for her intricately paced short stories that could devastate a reader. Her characters often lived in rural Ontario, like Munro herself. In an interview after winning the Nobel Prize, she said that living in a small town gave her the freedom to write. "I don't think I could have been so brave if I had been living in a town, competing with people on what can be called a generally higher cultural level," she said. "I was the only person I knew who wrote stories, though I didn't tell them to anybody, and as far as I knew, at least for a while, I was the only person who could do this in the world." Munro died on May 13, 2024 at the age of 92. This interview originally aired November 7, 1997. LISTEN TO DAILY EPISODES OF FRESH AIR https://www.npr.org/podcasts/38144490... LISTEN TO OTHER FRESH AIR INTERVIEWS ON YOUTUBE (published once a week)    • Fresh Air   SUBSCRIBE TO FRESH AIR+ FOR BONUS EPISODES https://plus.npr.org/freshair FOLLOW “FRESH AIR”   / freshairwithterrygross     / nprfreshair   https://whyy.org/freshair (Newsletter) LISTEN TO OTHER NPR PODCASTS ON YOUTUBE Code Switch:    / @nprcodeswitch   Throughline:    / @nprthroughline   It’s Been a Minute:    / @npritsbeenaminute   Book of the Day:    / @nprbookoftheday   SUBSCRIBE TO WHYY AND NPR WHYY:    / @whyyphiladelphia   NPR:    / @npr   NPR Music (Tiny Desk):    / @nprmusic   Jazz Night in America:    / @jazznightinamerica   NOTE: Captions are auto-generated by YouTube. See “Fresh Air” sponsors and promo codes https://www.nationalpublicmedia.com/p... The NPR shows you love are possible thanks to your support. Donate today: https://www.npr.org/donations/support