A lice Munro spins tales that show us, again and again, and with wondrous grace, how much can be done in a simple short story. Yet the 74-year-old Canadian does it by breaking every rule ever ...

Other short-story masters such as 20th century Latin-American Julio Cortazar, use the sporting analogy to talk about writing: 'The novel wins the points, the short story by knock-out'.