Western University to consider links with Alice Munro following daughter’s revelations

Professor Alice Munro says she is considering how to move forward after the Nobel laureate’s daughter revealed she was sexually abused by her stepfather and Munro chose to stay with him.

Western University has long promoted its links with the short story writer and since 2018 has employed an Alice Munro Chair in Creativity to “lead the creative culture” of the arts and humanities faculty.

Acting dean Ileana Paul says in a statement that the faculty is now considering how the revelations from Andrea Robin Skinner, Munro’s youngest daughter, will affect how the London, Ont., school celebrates the author’s legacy.

In a first-person op-ed published in the Toronto Star on Sunday, Skinner wrote that she was sexually abused by Munro’s second husband, Gerald Fremlin, starting when she was nine years old.

When Munro learned of the abuse years later, Skinner wrote, she focused more on herself than her daughter and ultimately chose to stay with Fremlin.

Fremlin was convicted of indecent assault in 2005 at the age of 80, and even then, Munro stayed.

Skinner wrote in the article that she wanted her experience to be part of the story people told about Munro when thinking about her legacy, rather than the hero worship that had become commonplace.

The revelation left many fans, writers and academics grappling with their feelings about Munro, with some saying it would fundamentally change how – and if – they read her work.

Munro died in May aged 92.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press