Eleanor Wachtel would bring My Best Stories by Alice Munro to a desert island
CBC Books | Posted: July 6, 2017 7:06 PM | Last Updated: May 14
Literary legend Alice Munro died on May 13, 2024 at the age of 92. The Canadian writer is revered worldwide as a master of the short story, with 14 acclaimed collections and a Nobel Prize — the 13th woman and second Canadian, after Saul Bellows, to ever receive that honour.
Last spring, CBC's Writers & Company wrapped up after 33 years and over 1,000 original interviews by Eleanor Wachtel. Munro appeared on the show three times: in the very first season in 1990, in 1999 and in 2004. There was also a panel in 2009, where several authors came together to celebrate the acclaimed author.
In 2017, CBC Books curated a reading list to commemorate 150 years since Confederation in Canada. The Great Canadian Reading List — a list of 150 books curated by you. Eleanor Wachtel, host CBC Radio's Writers & Company, added My Best Stories by Alice Munro to the list.
"When I was asked not long ago what book I would take to a desert island, I chose My Best Stories by Alice Munro. When you finish these stories, you want to go back and read them all over again. Munro's been writing for almost 50 years and she's won virtually every award you can win in Canada and internationally. There's a way she connects to people and the intimacy with which she writes that I think readers respond to.
There's a way she connects to people and the intimacy with which she writes that I think readers respond to. - Eleanor Wachtel on Alice Munro
"Whatever stage of my life I was reading her, it felt like she was always speaking directly to me. She writes with a complexity that I've described as 3D chess. Sometimes a single story has the density of a novel."
LISTEN: Highlights from the first season of Writers & Company: