Alice Munro did not attend the Nobel Prize for Literature 2013

The 82-year-old writer is too weak to go to Sweden to receive the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature.

>>>Canadian writer Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013

Peter Englund, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, confirmed on such a personal blog. He wrote: "Alice Munro's health is really not good. We and the writers themselves are very sorry about this, but there is no other way."

According to the blog, writer Alice Munro, now 82, told Peter Englund, "I am an old woman, my health is very fragile."

Alice Munro could not go to Sweden to receive the Nobel Prize for health reasons.(Photo: english.cam.ac.uk)

When Peter Englund called Alice Munro to announce that she had become the 2013 Nobel Literature winner, Alice Munro was still sleeping. Peter Englund had to leave a message on the writer's answering machine. Elder Alice Munro, who has undergone heart surgery and cancer treatment.

It is still unknown who will accept the award on behalf of the writer as well as whether she can make a speech at the Nobel prize ceremony. Alice Munro is not a rare case, as Nobel laureates often have a relatively high age. The previous winners, Doris Lessing and Elfriede Jelinek, did not go to the Nobel Committee in Stockholm to receive the prize, but to receive the award at the Swedish embassy in their country.

Alice Munro was the first Canadian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The writer was praised by the Swedish Academy as "the master of contemporary short stories".