Canadian author Alice Munro has been awarded the 2009 International Man Booker Prize, in recognition of her “practically perfect” short story collections, chronicling small town Ontarian life. She could be considered a ‘domestic’ writer,(to use that slightly derogative term so associated with the concerns of us little women) following in the footsteps of Austen and Eliot, though she is more similar to Muriel Spark than Anita Brookner, as she tackles big issues in the miniaturist form (though without Spark’s bite). The announcement was a minor upset, as Australian author Peter Carey had been deemed the favorite to win this time around.