Major changes have been announced for the Alice Munro Festival in North Huron.
It started in 2012 as the Alice Munro Writers and Readers Festival. It's attracted many national and international visitors, and saw participation in the annual short story competition increase by 500 per cent.
After Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for literature late last year, a consultant was brought in to help the local committee enhance Alice Munro's international standing.
2015 will see a new name and new dates. It will be called the Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story. It will take place the first weekend in June each year: June 5-7 in 2015.
The popular short story competition will remain a key focus of the festival. Competition guidelines, deadlines and details of the weekend’s new events will be announced in late January.
"This change in structure allows the festival to grow in new ways," says outgoing Festival Chair Karen Stewart. "Mary Brown and Mary Wolfe are the perfect co-directors, as both have created and produced the popular Bayfield Writers Festival when independent owners of the Village Bookshop in Bayfield. Their contacts in publishing will be invaluable in their new roles."
The directors will receive an honorarium to lead the Festival, previously produced by volunteers.
