Alice Munro was born Alice Laidlaw in Wingham, Ontario on July 10, 1931. She published her first story, The Dimensions of a Shadow, while a student at the University of Western Ontario in 1950. She left the university in 1951 to get married and start a family. In 1972 she became Writer in Residence at the University of Western Ontario. Her first collection, Dance of the Happy Shades (1968), won a Governor Generals Award, which is Canadas highest literary prize. Her other works include Lives of Girls and Women, The Beggar Maid, The View from Castle Rock, and Too Much Happiness. She has received several awards including the Governor Generals Award for Who Do You Think You Are? and the Man Booker International Prize in 2009 for her lifetime body of work. In 1980 she held the position of Writer in Residence at both the University of British Columbia and the University of Queensland. Her stories have appeared in numerous publications including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The Atlantic Monthly.