Alistair MacLeod, the award-winning author of No Great Mischief, paid a special visit to Trent University on March 10 and captivated an audience of 100 people by reading from two of his acclaimed short stories - “As Birds Bring Forth the Sun” and “The Boat”.

Mr. MacLeod has visited Trent several times over the years. In the 1980s, he was writer-in-residence at Lady Eaton College. He returned again for a month-long stay in 2002-2003 as Trent’s prestigious Ashley Fellow. During this time, his readings and talks were major events, filling both the Peterborough Public Library and Trent’s Wenjack Theatre on separate occasions.

“I must have read everything I’ve ever written to people and crowds here at Trent,” Mr. MacLeod joked.

This most recent visit to Trent came about through a request Trent English professor Dr. Michael Peterman, principal of Traill College and close friend to Mr. MacLeod. Prof. Peterman invited Mr. MacLeod to return to Trent for one last appearance before he retires at the end of the year.

“Alistair is one of Canada's most respected and loved authors,” Prof. Peterman said. “He is one of the modern masters of the short story form, has published an acclaimed novel, and travels the world as one of our most in-demand cultural ambassadors.”

For Mr. MacLeod, the visit afforded a great opportunity to not only return to Peterborough and Trent University but also to see his son, Lewis MacLeod, who has been a faculty member of Trent’s Department of English Literature since 2006.

Alistair MacLeod was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and raised among an extended family in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He has published two internationally acclaimed collections of short stories: The Lost Salt Gift of Blood (1976) and As Birds Bring Forth the Sun (1986). In 2000, these two books, accompanied by two new stories, were published in a single-volume edition entitled Island: The Collected Stories of Alistair MacLeod. In 1999, MacLeod’s first novel, No Great Mischief, was published to great critical acclaim, and was on national bestseller lists for more than a year. The novel won several awards, including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction, and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. At the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Awards, Mr. MacLeod won for Fiction Book of the Year and Author of the Year. No Great Mischief was also a finalist for the Pearson Canada Reader’s Choice Award at The Word on the Street.

Photo caption: Alistair MacLeod (right) poses with friend and Trent professor Dr. Michael Peterman

Posted March 13, 2008