Join a June 13 Virtual Memorial for Alice Munro

See the guidelines or ask questions here

In honor of the life and literary legacy of Alice Munro, all Substack writers are invited to contribute a post to a virtual memorial on June 13, one month from the Nobel Laureate’s death.

To participate

1. Schedule a post on a Munro-related theme to publish on June 13, 2024, in any time zone. Recommended themes are:

   1. Alice Munro (her life or writing, including personal essays about reading or teaching her work),

   2. The short story genre (critical essays or original stories),

   3. Canadian, métis, and First Nations women writers,

   4. Creative tributes to Munro in any genre (poetry, fiction, photo essays, collages, etc.).

2. Tag me (@TaraPenry) to make your post visible. I will collate all that I receive into a single memorial page.

3. Turn on your notifications or subscribe to Quiet Reading (this publication) to receive a notice when the collated page is complete (around June 17-24), with your contribution tagged in it. The page will live under the Community Pages section of Quiet Reading with Tara Penry, for future reference.

My regular Quiet Reading post on June 10 will have a Munro theme and a reminder to post on June 13.

Please feel free to post questions in the comments below.

Q & A so far —

Q: Is it okay to re-post something I wrote previously?

A: Yes. Do re-post it with a June 13 date and the at-TaraPenry mention to be included in the collated memorial.

Q: How do I tag you? (Substack calls this a “mention.”)

A: Use the “@” symbol, followed by my name, Tara Penry. A Substack popup menu should appear with my name and Quiet Reading publication in it. Click my name in the popup. Place this anywhere in your post, including a footnote; OR post a Substack Note with the “@” tag to me and a link to your contribution.

If possible, please also make clear at the outset whether your contribution is fiction, nonfiction, about Munro, about the short story, or about Canadian, métis, or First Nations literature. This will help me to collate posts by genres and groups.

Here is the Substack Help page about “mentioning” others in a post: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/10949110171668-Can-I-tag-a-writer-or-Substack-publication-in-a-post

Q: Do I need to adjust my privacy settings for you to tag me back in the collated memorial page?

A: Possibly. In your profile Settings, check under Privacy to be sure you’ve given permission for others to “mention” you in a post. See the last part of this Help page for guidance: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/10949110171668-Can-I-tag-a-writer-or-Substack-publication-in-a-post. If I can “mention” or tag you, others will be able to find you with one click from the memorial page.

Q: If I post a short story, can it be any story, or does it need to address something Alice wrote about?

A: It can be anything you see as a tribute to her. For example, you might put a headnote on a story of your own mentioning briefly what she meant to you as a writer or why you chose this story as a bouquet for her. A personal essay (or poem, prequel, etc) about anything she wrote is also fine.

Q: I don’t want to send my Munro post to my whole subscriber list on June 13. Should I post it in Substack Notes? What are my options?

A: You have two options. Yes, you may publish a Note, but I recommend a regular post to your home page with the email turned off. (You have more features in a post, like quotations and a Subscribe button. Readers of a post will see other things you’ve posted at the end.) Here’s how to post without emailing subscribers:

Create and edit your post as usual. When you’re ready to publish it, hit the blue “Continue” button at the top right of the editing screen as usual. In the pre-publication popup settings, Choose “Everyone” so the post is open to anyone. Then scroll down to “Delivery” and UNCHECK the box that says “Send via email and the Substack app.” The blue button at the bottom of the settings box will change from “Send email” to “Publish.” This also works if you are scheduling a time to publish with the next box. Click Publish (remember to tag me in the post) to send the post directly to your Substack home page but not to subscribers.

You may Share/Restack this post to Notes if you’d like.

Q: Gosh, I’m just hearing about this. Am I too late? Is there a length minimum?

A: Not at all! If you see this post for the first time on June 13, you have not missed the bus! Post until the end of day in any time zone. Share a few sentences about what Alice Munro meant to you, or what you remember about your first encounter with her. Share a photo of the Munro books on your shelf, with an “R. I. P., Alice.” Any tribute, long or short, visual, textual, artistic, etc., may be included. Consider that some posts will be like eulogies; others will be more like signing a guest book at a memorial — simple but heartfelt. Just remember to tag at-Tara-Penry in any post.

Q: I mean it’s too late even to make June 13. Are the doors closed?

A: Ah! Why close them? New info: I will continue to add links to the memorial after June 13th as time permits. The page will go out to my subscribers on Monday, June 17. New additions after that may not see much traffic, but if you feel moved to say something on behalf of Munro, go ahead and tag me. I’ll add later arrivals that contribute to the memorial.

More questions?

Ask them in comments below.

Want to keep up with the latest?

I recommend subscribing or at least following me if you use Substack Notes. The memorial is open to all. Subscription is not required, but here is a sample post to see what subscribers receive weekly.