"Writers" Players receive cards with the following words: grandmother, sour cream, stove, ravine, cloud, rooster, bus, fairy tale. You can come up with any words, their number can be increased or decreased depending on the age of the players. In 5–7 minutes, children should write

Pearson, Lester (1897-1972), in 1948-1957 Minister of Foreign Affairs, in 1963–1968 Prime Minister of Canada 245 The balance of power has been replaced by a balance of fear. //…Balance of terror. Speech on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter (June 1955) ? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_terror Wrote about the "balance of power"

Canadian writer Alice Munro won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature. The previous Canadian native to receive this award was Saul Bellow in 1976.

Alice Munro is 82 years old literary creativity engaged since the early 1950s. Winner of numerous national professional awards. He is the author of two dozen collections of short stories and short stories, including "The Dance of Happy Shadows", "The Progress of Love", "The Love of a Good Woman". Heroes of Munro live in her native places - in the south of Ontario. “There are no big and modest plots,” the writer believes. “The evil that exists in the world is directly related to the evil that reigns at the dinner table.”

Some of Alice Munro's stories have been made into films. The most famous film adaptation is Sarah Polley's drama Far From Her (2006).

In 2012, the collection of short stories "Dear Life" was released, and in the summer of 2013, the writer announced that she would no longer write. Alice Munro does not like to perform, rarely appears in public. Representatives of the Nobel Committee could not get through to the writer and left her a message on the answering machine. Alice Munro learned about the award from her daughter and said in an interview with Canadian television that she was stunned and delighted by the news.

Very little has been translated into Russian by Alice Munro. Some of her stories were published in the journal Foreign Literature. Chief Editor"IL" Alexander Livergant, however, is not enthusiastic about the decision of the Nobel Committee:

- Although she is compared with Chekhov, but this, of course, is a ridiculous comparison. Such a strong middle man. She is a good stylist, a strong psychologist. This is psychological prose: as a rule, descriptions of a distant Canadian province, internal family problems, problems of marriage (usually unhappy), divorces, complex relationships between children and husband and wife, or boyfriend and girlfriend, or children and parents, and so on. She does not, as far as I know, not a single novel, she does not travel notes, no diaries. She has been writing all her life such small stories, more or less the same psychological drawing, with a bit of a feminist twist. Maybe this feminism somehow played a role.

Will this award affect the politics of your magazine? Will you publish new translations of Alice Monroe's works?

- I'm not convinced. Maybe we will print something, if there is a place, but not on purpose. The only thing we always try to do is print Nobel speeches. If she bothers to come to Stockholm and deliver such a speech, we will publish it.

Unlike Alexander Livergant, the Canadian-based writer Mikhail Iossel believes that Alice Munro is an outstanding author who has earned the world's top literary award:

an ordinary Canadian housewife who is endowed with a literary intuitive talent

Munro is a wonderful writer. She started writing when she was well over 40, having lived the ordinary life of a housewife, and still lives a quiet life in a tiny town, does not go to any writers' conferences, does not seek to give any readings. Each of her stories is masterfully written. It's like "nothing": usual life, people who are by and large unremarkable, but at some point you suddenly begin to identify yourself with them. This is really Chekhov's literature, although structurally it is more complicated. Munro breaks many of the conventions that are taught in writing programs: for example, never immerse episodes in flashback, in the description of the past, always stay on the surface of the story. That is, she is like everyone else, but not like everyone else: an ordinary Canadian housewife who is endowed with a literary intuitive talent. The Nobel Prize is a huge cause for celebration because Canadians have identity issues and here writers like Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro are national heroes. There is nothing like this in the USA, there is no writer who would be the pride of the nation. In Canada, Munro is the pride of the nation, and her province of Ontario will certainly have a colossal celebration.

A poet speaks about the Nobel Prize winner Lida Yusupova:

“I love Alice Munro very much. I love her for her correctness - but this is a unique correctness, inimitable, inexplicable. For example, the correctness of her language: Alice Munro's English is perfect, her speech is the best thing that can happen to the English language, this is some kind of absolute happiness of the English language - I don’t understand how she does it: how could she create such freedom with complete control over the language - how to turn the ideal correctness of the language into one's own and only one's style. In the story "Child's Play" (the title of which can be translated both as "trifle" and literally as "child's play"), two little girls drown another girl in a summer camp while swimming, and then 15 years pass - in in one interview, Alice Munro says that she is most interested in the surface of life, and that she is not an analyst or an intellectual: I love her prose because it consists of living connections, her prose is not research, but the creation of connections, but living ones, they live their own lives - and this life is fascinating, addiction arises: I read Munro and understand that I cannot live without her prose.

In Russia, the works of Nobel Prize winners in literature are published by the St. Petersburg publishing house Amfora. Its editor-in-chief Vadim Nazarov more than once it was possible to guess the name of the future laureate. This happened in 2012: when it was announced that Mo Yan was receiving the prize, the Russian translation of his book was already in the printing house. However, this time Vadim Nazarov did not manage to guess that the award would go to Alice Munro. This year I had three favorites, says the publisher. - Salman Rushdie, Philip Roth and Amos Oz, although I understood that for various political reasons, none of these "good guys" would receive an award. But Alice Munro, I could not predict, this is a completely unexpected option. "

PC Browser Ivan Tolstoy explains the selection mechanism for the Nobel Prize in Literature:

– This prize will almost never be awarded to a writer who is obviously politically charged, a writer who has commercial or other scandalous success. If you are a reactionary, if you are the author of the "erotic bestseller" Lolita, you will never get your Nobel Prize.

Even 112-113 years ago, the Nobel Committee developed certain principles - to give awards for the idealistic orientation of a work. And what is it? For more than 100 years, ideas about idealism have changed a lot. Yes, but still core values remained the same, that is, not acquisitiveness, not looking for a scandal, the lack of a commercial orientation. For example, if you write in political topics, you should not be a winner, but a sufferer, a loser. If you belong to the titular nation, you are less likely to receive an award. And if you imagine a small, completely downtrodden people somewhere far away, your chances are enormous. Alice Munro, by most of these criteria, meets the rules of the Nobel Committee. She is a woman, she lives in the non-Nobel country of Canada. It is published in the best magazine in the world, in the New Yorker, and constantly, but, nevertheless, it has those positive qualities for the Nobel Committee that determine who will be the Nobel laureate.

“But that means that the Nobel Committee is following its own rules, and without reading Alice Munro, we can say that the choice is correct.

– Absolutely. We can make a list of 150 writers who will certainly receive in the coming years Nobel Prize. It's computable. We have a mechanism for such a calculation. And it's not about talent, but about belonging. In this sense, the Nobel Committee is dependent, it depends on its moral policy. This is a great charitable moral activity, this is conscientiousness, this is spirituality. – things that many laugh at and believe that they have died long ago in the world. Perhaps they have died, except for one small room on the globe, it is called – office where Nobel academics sit.

The Nobel Prize in Literature surprised again. Nobel Laureate in literature was the little-known Canadian writer Alice Munro (Munro) (Alice Munro)

If Alice Munro were Russian

Max Fisher

Canadian writer Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Publications about Munro are likely to focus on her work and professional life. However, in this article, borrowing a very good idea from a columnist for Slate magazine, foreign policy Joshua Keating, satire is presented - material that you could read if Munro were an authoritarian, developing country such as China or Russia, where many Nobel Prize winners come from. I repeat: this is satire.

Geneva- Dissident writer Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature Thursday morning for her writings critical of the Canadian regime.

Although not directly involved in politics, Munro is known for her stories about the difficulties faced by ordinary Canadians. Although the government tolerates her works, they are perceived as a challenge to the country's leadership. She first received international recognition in 1968 for her collection Dance of the Happy Shadows, a sensitive portrait of life under the cruel leadership of then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

Munro has long been famous among Western writers. American novelist Cynthia Ozick called her "our Chekhov", comparing Munro to a Russian playwright known for his writings in which he defies restrictive social norms royal era.

Canadian state media greeted the news with joy, hailing it as a great victory for the nation and state ideology. However, Munro is still expected to come under significant pressure from the Canadian expat communities, who are already urging the author to use this moment to draw more attention to the lack of political freedoms in Canada.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International are urging Ottawa to allow Munro to leave the country to receive the award in December. While in the past Canadian laureates have been allowed to travel to Oslo for the awards ceremony, this time the political nature of Munro's work and Canada's recent friction with the European Union put her travel into question.

In the meantime, some Munro fans in the West hope that the author's works will finally be fully translated into English language.

BIOGRAPHY

In 1995, Munro received the W.H. Smith Award" as the best book published in England, and in 1999 in the USA this collection received the "National Book Critics" Circle Fiction Award". Commonwealth Writers Award.

Alice Munro is a Canadian writer born July 10, 1931 in Wingham, Ontario, Canada. In 1949, after leaving school, nee Ellis Laidlaw entered the University of Western Ontario. There she met her future husband, James Munro. In 1951, they got married, and Ellis, leaving the university, goes with her husband to Vancouver.

In 1963, Alice Munro traveled to Victoria, British Columbia, where he opened Munro's Books, which became one of the best bookstores Vancouver. In 1968 Munro for the collection short stories"Dance of the Happy Shadows" wins the Governor General's Award. In 1971, she received the Canadian Booksellers Association Award for Lives of Girls and Women.

For twenty eight years writing activity Alice Munro has published one novel, Lives of Girls and Women, and seven collections of short stories. She has been awarded many literary prizes and awards. In addition to the above-mentioned works, one can mention the collections of short stories "Who Do You Think You Are?" 1978 and The Progress of Love in 1986, which won the Governor General's Award and Who Do You Think You Are? was also awarded the Booker Prize.

In 1986, Alice Munro became the first winner of the Marian Engel Award with a $10,000 reward. In 1995, Munro received the W.H. Smith Award" as the best book published in England, and in 1999 in the USA this collection received the "National Book Critics" Circle Fiction Award". Commonwealth Writers Award

Alice Munro's stories have been published in prestigious magazines such as The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Atlantic Monthly. The stories she told have been adapted for radio and film. The film adaptation of Boys and Girls won the Academy Award for Best Short Film in 1986.

After a divorce in 1972, Alice Munro moved to Ontario. In 1976, she married a second time. Her husband was Gerald Fremlin. Alice has a daughter, Sheila, who has published a memoir dedicated to her mother. Alice Munro lives in Ontario at her Huron County home.

Rio at his Huron County home.

The author of a series of detective stories about Armand Gamache) on his official website talks about his experience and gives advice to aspiring writers. I just translated it :-)
Yes, a lot of advice in the style of "Captain Obvious", but something does not suit us, I slightly reduced it. However, this writer is emotionally very close to me, so I quote her advice.

"First, make sure you polish your manuscript. You won't get a second chance to make a first impression. Try to find a literary agent first, they can help you a lot (...).
How to write a synopsis. A synopsis usually consists of about 500 words. All synopses are written seriously, with no exceptions.
Agents have several hundred such requests every week. Maybe they only read the first line. You only have a fraction of a second to grab the agent's attention. In fact, he is looking for an excuse to take and throw your synopsis in the trash. Don't give him that reason. Keep the synopsis professional, short, and personal to the reader.

Like most writers, I've been rejected far more often than I'd like to remember or admit in a conversation with my agent. It's too late for her to leave me now, so I can admit it. It would help me if I knew this before (I will try to make your life a little easier if you are an author with no published books yet).

First, finish the book. Most people who start writing books never finish them. Don't be one of them. Finish the book, for God's sake. You have nothing to fear - it won't kill you. It won't even bite you. This is your dream, this is your chance. Of course, you don't want to lie on your deathbed and regret not finishing your book.

Read a lot.

Read books about writing and how to get your book published. I read "Writing Mysteries" edited by Sue Grafton, published by Writers Digest. I also read Celia Brayfield's Bestseller and a bunch of other tutorials, including How to Publish Your Book: A Dummies' Guide.

If you are writing a book for the first time, why do you think you know what you are doing? Why subject yourself to such pressure and the weight of inflated expectations? It's possible that you have an intuitive understanding of characters, structure, pacing. Some have it, they do not need these benefits. To be honest, I'm not sure how useful they were to me. But I know for sure that they did not harm me. I was comforted when I "listened" to other writers and learned that they had to struggle with the same problems. Then I felt less alone and less incapable.

I suffered from "Writer's Crisis" for many years. I was seized with horror. I was afraid that when it came to testing, my deepest fear would be confirmed: that I was a terrible writer. I was cured by the sudden realization that I was taking myself too seriously. And that I tried to write the best book ever published in history. the globe. And if I don’t write this, then I’m a 100% loser.

I decided to just have fun instead. Write what I like to read. And to populate the book with characters that I would like to be friends with. It's clear that we all choose own characters- but make sure you really want to spend a lot of time with yours. They may not be attractive, kind, thoughtful. But they need to be persuasive. Look at Scarlett O'Hara. A petty, jealous, headstrong, vengeful heroine who has almost no positive trait and her tragedy is that she is unable to change. But she is very attractive.

Be true to yourself. Write whatever you want, even if friends and family think you're crazy. Be very careful who you show your first draft to. When you finish it, I highly recommend that you make a list of the first readers: friends, acquaintances, friends of friends who will read it and make critical comments. This is the decisive stage. Remember, your "child" is still fragile, as is your ego at this stage. I definitely had it. I put so much soul into my creation that a harsh criticism or a cruel remark (always expressed with a connoisseur's smile) could make me take and throw everything away. I wish I could tell you that I was strong, determined, courageous and confident in my first draft, Killer quiet life", but you're not. Perhaps you're not quite sure about your first book either.

That's where the focus is. You need to pass the draft into the hands of other people. You need to be open to criticism, instructions and suggestions. But you have to choose these people wisely. Some people are just limited. Others see it as their destiny to find fault. But it's not about looking for flaws. Anyone can chime in, honestly. It's easy. Any book is imperfect. The point is to make the book stronger. You need people who will support you, cheer you up, and think about what you write. Those who offer constructive criticism in a kind way, who understand the difference between truth and opinion.

A novel is a text longer than 70,000 words (meaning English. - Phontanka). Publishers and literary agents judge length not by the number of pages, but by the number of words. The computer can easily count the words in your document. For a first book, a good result is between 60 and 90 thousand words. There are always exceptions, there are huge yet successful debut books, but it will just be harder for you to find a publisher. However, above all - loyalty to oneself. If you absolutely need 150 thousand words, write them. However, my first draft was 168,000 words. When I cut it in half, the book became much stronger. I was able to put my ego aside and own pride and "kill" your offspring.

(As far as I know, in Russia they count by the number of characters - and by the author's sheets (a.l. = 40,000 printed characters with spaces), and the optimal size of a manuscript is 12-15 a.l.)

Keep working hard. Believe in yourself.
If you've already finished your first book, you are AMAZING! You are so far ahead of the majority that they no longer see the dust that you raised by galloping past them! Most don't even start their first book. Of those who start, most do not finish. If you've completed it, great! To be honest, as a child, I promised myself write book and brought it to life. You have written a book. You did it. And if it is never published, you should not regret it. I'm serious. You have achieved something that many only dream of.

However, most likely you want to promote it to print, why not. Here's how I did it, and here are my suggestions (but remember that every writer own history, and none of us can be considered "right", it's just our experience and our opinion).

Make sure your first manuscript can't get any better. Edit, edit, edit.

Print out a copy for yourself. When you think you're done, set it aside for a few weeks and then sit down and reread the printout. I usually print on both sides of the sheet, with a single gap (between lines) and fasten the sheets. This makes it easier to hold the manuscript, and this way it looks much more like real book! It's so exciting.
When it's time to send the manuscript to the publisher, do the printout differently: double line spacing, 12 pt. White paper, on one side of the sheet.
Do not bind the manuscript.
Put your last name and title keyword on EVERY page in the top corner. For example, Penny/Quiet. There is an automatic function in the computer for this, you do not need to do it manually.
Number the pages from the first to the last, do not start numbering again with each new chapter.
Do not worry that the manuscript will seem huge. It always scares me. She looks like a dog house.
Aim as high as possible. If they refuse you, then let the best (publishers) refuse. Buy these bulky contact books for literary agents and publishers in your country and read them carefully. It will tell you how to apply, and it will be written about each publisher, what their specialization is. Don't waste your time and others' time by sending them a detective if they only publish non-fiction.
Send the manuscript to several publishers at once. You still have to wait a long time for a response.
Go to meetings of writers, literary seminars, acquire contacts.
Participate in contests.

Well, now I'll tell you how I managed to get a leading London literary agent and a contract for three books in the UK and the USA. Ready?
I entered the competition.
I was surfing the internet and stumbled upon the Mystery Writers Association UK site, read about their Debut Dagger competition. Anyone who has not had commercial book publications can enter this competition. http://www.thecwa.co.uk/
That year (2004) there were 800 entries from all over the world. There are 14 shortlisted, my book is one of them. I knew my life had changed. As a reward for being shortlisted, all authors were invited to London for a luncheon where the winner was to be announced. Michael (husband) and I went.
I became the second - and got a wild number of connections. I cannot overstate the importance of this award in my career. A couple of evenings later I met Teresa (the agent), in fact - at a private party, but she knew my name and my work sent to the competition. All the good London agents have read the shortlisted works.

Also... I did something else that made all the difference. Even before the award, I "performed homework"and found out who was considered the best agent in London. When Teresa named herself at a party, I could look her straight in the eyes and honestly admit that I had heard about her and that she was one of the best agents. I think it made her impression. At least it showed that I was interested in collaborating and ready to work on it. In my experience, you get as much as you put in. The harder you work, the more you research, the more knowledge you have, the greater the chances to success. Well, in fact, some people come without any preparation and have a resounding success - but why not? It does not bother me. Anything that works, suits me. For myself, the better prepared I am, the calmer I am, the my brain works better I give myself as many chances as possible to succeed, rather than “setting myself up” out of laziness or fear.

When you send your first book to publishers, do not sit idly by. work on next work. Good luck!

(abbreviated)


For fun: Louise Penny was born in 1958. Thus, by 2004 she was 46 years old.
Since then she Five times received the "Agatha Award" (Agatha Christie Award), Five times received the Anthony Award. Her novels have been translated into 23 languages. I added this from the English Wikipedia.