Books

Betting on Alice Munro to win the Nobel Prize

Alice Munro is famous for her writing, not her gambling. However, if she were a betting woman, she might like the 4:1 odds the bookies at Ladbrokes are giving at her winning the Nobel Prize for literature.

It has been 112 years since a Canadian took home the prize, but Munro is riding a wave of hype before the official winner is announced tomorrow. After recently announcing her retirement at the age of 82, she won the $10,000 Harbourfront Festival Prize at the International Festival of Authors earlier this month. The Nobel Prize, however, would be Munro’s most prestigious accolade (not to mention the healthy payout of roughly $1 millon).

“There’s a sense that now would be the perfect time for her to win,” says Sarah Weinman, a news editor for Publishers Marketplace.

Munro has been no stranger to accolades over her distinguished career as one of the world’s top short fiction writers. She won the Man Booker International prize in 2009, three Governor General’s Literary Awards and, most recently, her third Trillium Book Award in June.

A Twitter account was set up with her name on Tuesday and quickly garnered over 1,300 followers. (It was quickly determined the account was a hoax.)

What does all the hype mean for Munro’s chances? “It may turn out to be significant at about 7:02 a.m. tomorrow [when the winner is announced],” Weinman says. “Or it may not. We just don’t know at this point.”

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