Alistair MacLeod, the award-winning author of No Great Mischief, will deliver a free, public talk at Trent University’s Traill College on Monday, March 10 at 8 p.m. in the Scott House dining hall.

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. Mr. MacLeod also has special ties to the University since his son, Lewis MacLeod, joined the faculty in the Department of English Literature in 2006.

“Alistair is one of Canada's most respected and loved authors,” says Dr. Michael Peterman, an English professor at Trent. “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.”

Alistair MacLeod was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and raised among an extended family in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He holds degrees from Nova Scotia Teachers College, St. Francis Xavier University, the University of New Brunswick and Notre Dame, where he took his Ph.D. Working alongside fellow author, W.O. Mitchell, he was an inspiring teacher to generations of writers at the Banff Centre. In the spring of 2000, MacLeod retired from the University of Windsor, where he was a professor of English.

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.

Seats are still available for the March 10 event and all members of the public are invited to attend. To reserve a seat, please contact Wendy Scammell in the Traill College Office at (705) 748-1011 x1736.