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IT’S TIME TO TALK ABOUT ALICE

From left, Globe writer Ian Brown, nov­el­ist and editor Rus­sell Smith, Globe writer Zosia Biel­ski, lit­er­at­ure pro­fessor David Staines, and nov­el­ists Kath­er­ine Ashen­burg and Susan Swan par­ti­cip­ate in a round-table dis­cus­sion about Alice Munro’s repu­ta­tion, now that her daugh­ter Andrea has revealed she was sexu­ally abused by Munro’s second hus­band at the age of 9.

Earlier this month, the reputation of Canada’s beloved Alice Munro – who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2013 – took a mortal blow. Munro’s youngest daughter, Andrea Robin Skinner, revealed she had been sexually abused, at the age of 9, by Gerald Fremlin, Munro’s second husband, shortly after Munro and Fremlin moved in together in 1976. The crime quickly became known to her father, Victoria bookseller Jim Munro, who insisted it be kept secret from his ex-wife Alice. Despite finally learning of the abuse from Andrea in 1992, Alice Munro stayed with Fremlin for the rest of his life – even after he plead guilty to indecent assault in 2005.

It’s only now, after Alice Munro’s death in May, that Skinner’s story, which she revealed in a Toronto Star essay, has become widely known, shocking the global literary community and launching a barrage of commentary.

Last week, a group of Canadian writers, editors and scholars sat down at The Globe and Mail with reporter Ian Brown to talk about Alice Munro and the scandal that has enveloped her. Around the table were David Staines, a professor of literature at Ottawa University, and a long-time friend of Munro’s; journalist, novelist and former scholar Katherine Ashenburg; Russell Smith, a novelist and editor at Dundurn Press; Zosia Bielski, who covers sexual and gender matters for The Globe and Mail; and Susan Swan, the novelist and founder of the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, who also knew Alice Munro.

Ian Brown: Welcome to The Globe and Mail Clinic for Fallen Idols and Shattered Reputations. How did the news about Alice Munro affect you? Were you shocked?

Zosia Bielski: I read as much as I could...