Alice Munro wins Nobel Prize in Literature for short story writing

Canadian short story writer Alice Munro has won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Known as the “master” of short stories, Munro, 82, is one of the most popular writers to win the prestigious award. The bulk of her stories are set in the small towns of her native Ontario. Munro's work is frequently published in “The New Yorker” and has also been included in the Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Awards collections.

The prize was first awarded in 1901 and the majority of the winners have been European. Two exceptions to that trend have been Toni Morrison from the U.S. and Mario Vargas Llosa, a native of Peru.

Other non-European authors that were being suggested as prospective Nobel winners were Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, Thomas Pynchon and Cormac McCarthy.

Much like the stories that earned Munro her prize, the press release alerting the world about her achievement was short, sweet and well-written.

According to the release announcing the prize, "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013 was awarded to Alice Munro 'master of the contemporary short story.'"