LONDON: Canadian short story writer Alice Munro has won this year's Man Booker International Prize worth 60,000 pounds (95,000 US dollars, 70,000 euros), the judges said Wednesday.

The panel, which comprised writers Jane Smiley, Amit Chaudhuri and Andrey Kurkov, praised the 77-year-old for the originality and depth of her work.

"Alice Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels," they said.

"To read Alice Munro is to learn something every time that you never thought of before."

Munro, who was born and still lives in Canada, published her first collection of stories, "Dance of the Happy Shades", in 1968, which won Canada's prestigious Governor General's Award. A clutch of other gongs have followed.

She said she was "totally amazed and delighted" at her latest win.

The Man Booker International Prize is affiliated with the Booker Prize, one of the world's most prestigious literary awards, but is unique as it can be won by an author of any nationality providing their work is available in English.

It is awarded every two years, and since its creation in 2005 has been given to Albania's Ismail Kadare and Nigeria's Chinua Achebe.

Munro will receive the prize at a ceremony in Dublin on June 25.