Congratulations to Alice Munro, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize for literature. Well done, that lady.

Now I confess: I’ve never heard of her. I gather she’s an elderly Canadian who writes short stories about life on the Canadian plains. Sounds intriguing.

I’m a little stunned that someone has won the prize for short stories. Okay, I know Hemingway got it for his short stories (or was it the Booker Prize? He definitely won something for them) and I’m a bit of a fan of his. He knew how to distil the essence of the story into the barest possible number of words, so that one sentence was worth someone else’s paragraph. As I’ve never read any of Ms Munro’s work, I have no idea how she goes about it but it must be pretty good.

The thing is – short stories?!! How did she get them published? It’s common knowledge in the literary world that if you want to get a collection of short stories published you have to either establish yourself as a popular (and therefore marketable) author, first: eg Stephen King. Or, you have to be recognised as a ‘literary’ author of the highest quality, who has won bucket-loads of prizes and therefore may also be marketable: eg Paul Coelho. Or, you either get them published through academic circles, or you self-publish.

I wonder which one of these is Ms Munro. Kudos to her, I say.

Thanks to her shining example a plethora of beginner writers will plunge themselves into the world of short story writing. There are still some magazines/journals who buy them, so they may even manage to sell some. I’ve done it, so it’s not impossible. Then, clutching their portfolio in their sweaty little hands, they can approach a publishing house or two or many, which will (after a 6 – 8 months wait) tell them it doesn’t suit their list/ they’re not publishing anthologies at this time/ we hope you find a home for them. Then, if they’re not completely devastated, they could try to scrape together the cash to invest in themselves and trot off to Office Works, to print up copies for their family and friends. Do I sound bitter?

Anyway, once again, cheers and huzzahs for Alice Munro. It’s a wonderful achievement and it’s nice to see someone unexpected win it. (I say that with all sincerity. Seriously.)

But, meanwhile, I still long for the day when someone who writes about dragons will win the prize. There was a time I would have said that was impossible but – hey – Monsanto (world-wide killer of bees and experts in GMO foods) has been nominated for the Prize for Agriculture, so anything is possible.