Munro withdraws from Giller Prize competition

TORONTO - Literary legend Alice Munro won't be competing for this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Munro's publisher, McClelland and Stewart, says the esteemed author wants to give younger writers a chance to shine.

She's won the Giller two times already.

Munro, 78, also won the prestigious Man Booker International prize earlier this year.

Her latest collection of short stories, "Too Much Happiness," hits stores Saturday.

Giller organizers said they were disappointed by Munro's decision, but didn't try to talk her out of it.

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  Canadian author Alice Munro poses for a photograph at the Canadian Consulate's residence in New York Oct. 28, 2002. (Paul Hawthorne / THE CANADIAN PRESS)