Alyson Nyiri is not only a fan of Alice Munro, she's now in charge of making sure Munro’s hometowns make the most of their native daughter's fame.
The project coordinator for the Alice Munro Partnership Group says, "Alice Munro's short stories have really brought Huron County to the world."
For the next 15 months, Nyiri will be trying to figure out the best ways to help Huron County capitalize both financially and culturally on Munro's recent Nobel victory for literature.
"A Nobel Prize winner in your community changes how much tourism you have in the area. So whether we develop a larger museum for Alice Munro, we don't know, we'll investigate that. We have one walking tour already with more in development."
The Alice Munro Partnership Group is a15-month project exploring the labour market opportunities in tourism, retail, construction, education and literacy.
The group includes the Township of North Huron, Municipality of Morris-Turnberry, Municipality of Central Huron, and the County of Huron and is funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities and also in part by the federal government.
Munro was born in Wingham and lives part time in Clinton with many of her short stories based on her time growing up in Huron County.
Neil Vincent is the reeve of the North Huron, which includes Wingham and said in a statement, “The global magnification on Alice Munro and the area due to the Nobel Prize presents us with new and innovative economic opportunities and avenues of possibilities..here in Alice Munro country, Alice made the ordinary seem extraordinary in her writing and she definitely promoted where she came from and lived in her writing”.
With little promotion of Munro’s connection to Huron County, submissions to the Alice Munro Reading and Writing Festival based in Blyth have increased 250 per cent over last year.
A student from Tokyo, Japan is also writing her masters degree thesis about Munro, so she's flying to Huron County on Friday to experience everything Alice.
Mayor James Ginn of Central Huron has said, “Central Huron Council is proud to be a partner. This study will allow us to develop a plan to promote Alice Munro’s literature and Huron County in the most respectful and appropriate way.”
Business owners in Clinton have already been talking about ways to bring tourists to Munro’s part-time hometown.
Sandy Garnet of the Made in Huron Artisan Market says, "I'm on the BIA and we talked at length about how to try and bring more people to the town that she lives in, more tourists."
“We are very proud of the Alice Munro Heritage in this area, “said Mayor Paul Gowing of Morris-Turnberry. “Due to this project, the Municipality of Morris-Turnberry envisions economic growth and partnerships that will greatly enhance the area.”
But doing so when the famous figure you're promoting generally shies away from publicity is a big challenge.
Nyiri says "We want to be very sensitive to her privacy but balance that with the fact the community and world is very interested in where she grew up and they want to see Alice Munro country."
Organizers are in constant contact with Munro and her people, with the author wanting much of the promotion to focus on youth and creating an atmosphere to foster the next Alice Munro.
"They can become creative - they can become writers and they can do that all here in Huron County," Nyiri adds.
