Oh, Happy Day!

My beloved Alice Munro has won the 2009 Man Booker International Prize!

If you’ve been coming here for any length of time, you’ll know Alice Munro is my very favourite writer, and I couldn’t be happier she’s won this prestigious prize.

The Man Booker International Prize is worth £60,000 to the winner and is awarded once every two years to a living author for a body of work that has contributed to an achievement in fiction on the world stage. It was first awarded to Ismail Kadaré in 2005 and then to Chinua Achebe in 2007.

The prize seeks to recognize a living author who has contributed significantly to world literature and to highlight the author's continuing creativity and development on a global scale.

I’m halfway through her newest collection, Too Much Happiness, which comes out in August. It’s Alice at her best, and I’m so disappointed it’s coming during my maternity leave when I won’t be around to help promote it (but you can bet I’ll be doing what I can from home).

If you’ve never read Alice, you are missing out. I have a copy of her last collection, Alice Munro’s Best up for grabs for the first person to email metro[underscore]mama[at]hotmail[dot]com (sorry, Canadian only!).

Update: We have a winner! Congrats, Mamalooper.