Alice Munro - Writing Her Lives

that changed in 1976. Munro had been approached by literary agents before and, especially after the complexities surrounding
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, she had made inquiries regarding their utility. Still, she had taken no action, characteristically hesitant about such major shifts. Few Canadian writers had agents and, conversely, there were not many Canadian agents. Margaret Atwood hired hers, Phoebe Larmore, after being pressed to get one by Peter Davison, her editor at Little, Brown – he thought she needed one. Larmore has represented her since. Probably sometime in late 1975 Atwood told her that Munro was a writer who might be interested in an agent and she may also have mentioned Larmore to Munro. In New York, Larmore had friends who were also agents, among them Virginia Barber, who since 1974 had run her own agency. A similar sort of discussion took place between Larmore and Toivo Kiil in Toronto in 1975. In December she wrote to him recommending Barber as a possible agent for Munro as one of three writers he had suggested who needed agents (Harry Pollock and Carol Shields were the others). Her associate had been reading Munro’s work and had recommended that Barber write to Kiil directly and introduce herself. Though Kiil was no longer at McGraw-Hill Ryerson, he continued to play a role in Munro’s career.
    Barber wrote to Kiil introducing herself in January, indicating that her main interest was “good fiction.” “I have a Ph.D. in American Literature (Duke Univ.) and was teaching literature before becoming an agent. It is very difficult, as you well know, to find quality fiction that is also commercial enough to attract a publisher, but that is indeed what I’m looking for.” She had read Munro’s work and would be “very pleased to work with her.” Barber then listed several recent books she had represented and concluded, “I’m being highly selective at this point about taking on new clients, but I’ll always find room for someone of the caliber of Alice Munro. Therefore, I hope you will think of me if you know of good Canadian writers who are seeking American representation.” In a postscript, she added that even though she had had herown agency for less than two years she had good co-agents abroad and lists them. 10
    Characteristically, Virginia Barber was forthright in presenting herself. Born and raised Virginia Price in Galax, Virginia, a small town about twice the size of Wingham in the Blue Ridge region, her family was socially prominent and Presbyterian when most others there were Baptists. Segregation was still a fact then. Her father was a retired federal civil servant and they belonged to the country club. Like Munro, she was academically accomplished and also was encouraged by the people of Galax who recognized her accomplishments. After high school she attended Randolph-Macon College for Women and then Duke University where she earned a Ph.D. in English with a dissertation on William Carlos Williams’s poetics. At Duke she met and married Edwin Barber, a Mississippian, and the couple moved to New York in 1959, where he worked as an editor in publishing, first at Harcourt, Brace and then at W.W. Norton. They had two daughters and, after some time spent teaching at Columbia University Teachers College, Barber became an agent through her friend Helen Merrill. Initially she worked with Merrill in the theatre, but, given its “weekend meetings, midnight decisions, and wild temperaments,” she decided to set up her own agency and concentrate on prose writers.
    At the time she wrote to Kiil, Barber’s agency shared office space with Larmore on Greenwich Avenue in New York. Although Munro emerged as an especially attractive prospect for Barber, she was interested in other Canadian writers as well, for her agency was relatively new and growing. The first writer Barber wrote a scouting letter to when she became an agent was Clark Blaise, who already had an agent; but at one time or another she has represented Marian Engel, John Metcalf, Carol Shields, Aritha van Herk, Rudy Wiebe, L.R. Wright, and others. Barber and Munro met at a gathering of the Writers’ Union of Canada in Toronto in 1976.
    Barber first wrote to Munro in March 1976: “Dear Alice Munro, I wonder if you’ve considered a literary agent?”, she began and, even before introducing herself, continued to assert that “I believe your work should be represented by someone, and I would very much like to bethat someone. I’ve been