Ontario short story festival named after Alice Munro coming to an end

An Ontario literary festival named after Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro is coming to an end.

In an online post, the committee overseeing the annual Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story said it "unanimously decided" to close the festival in 2025.

"The committee would like to share their sincere appreciation to the community, volunteers, and funders for their many years of support and to the authors who continued to bring exceptional programming to the event," reads the post.

Festival organizers said the remaining funds will be donated to charities supporting women and children, and the short story contest will continue through Huron County Library.

Festival organizers declined to comment on the decision with CBC News.

"Thank you for your inquiry … but the committee is not making any further comments outside what has been posted," the committee's chair, Allie Brenner, said in an email.

The move follows revelations last summer that Munro chose to remain married to her second husband after learning he had sexually abused one of her daughters as a child.

In a Toronto Star op-ed, Andrea Skinner wrote that her stepfather Gerald Fremlin sexually assaulted her in the mid-1970s when she was nine years old and continued to harass and abuse her until she became a teenager.

Skinner said she told Munro about Fremlin's abuse when she was in her 20s, but Munro continued living with Fremlin until his death in 2013, the same year Munro won the Nobel Prize in literature.

Munro died in May 2024 at the age of 92.

After Skinner's op-ed, it emerged that Fremlin had pleaded guilty in 2005 to indecently assaulting her decades earlier. He served a suspended sentence with two years of probation.

A second woman later came forward to The Toronto Star, saying Fremlin exposed himself to her when she was nine years old while he was staying at her family's home, years before he and Munro were married.

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Munro's recognitions go beyond the short story festival. In Wingham, Munro's hometown, a literary garden is also named after the author.

Verna Steffler, a friend of Munro's for more than 30 years, helped start the garden in 2002 while president of the Wingham Horticultural Society.

Speaking with CBC News in July, Steffler said she was shocked by Skinner's op-ed and said she "didn't have a clue" about what Fremlin had done, expressing hope that it would spur more victims of sexual assault to come forward.

On Monday, Steffler said she hadn't heard about the festival's closure until CBC News contacted her and expressed disappointment about the decision.

"I think maybe, deep down, I thought it might very well come to an end. I guess I didn't expect it maybe right now, but I guess if it's going to happen, it probably would be right now," she said.

Steffler said there had been no changes to the garden named after Munro, which is maintained by the horticultural society. A separate monument to Munro is also located in Clinton, Ont.

"When we did the garden, the idea was, we need to celebrate. We have a world-renowned writer in our community, and we need to celebrate that," she said.

"Her being the writer is totally different than her being a mother. I still fully support that she's still one of the best writers we've had."

For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. ​​If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.