Beannachd leibh, Alistair MacLeod

[Nathan]

This was what the cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon wrote about Alastair MacLeod. If you haven't had the chance, read No Great Mischief. It is a masterpiece.


"Alistair MacLeod, world renowned author and the pride of Inverness County, Cape Breton, has passed away at the age of 77.

Alistair was a not-so-distant relative of the MacKinnon clan, second cousin to and good friend of my father. My siblings and I remember Alistair as a familiar family figure, a soft spoken, gentle soul with a sense of fun and a talent for understatement. Dad has great memories of Alistair stopping by our home in Antigonish on his way to Inverness in the summer and having a tipple or two with Dad while ruminating on his latest short story ideas. As kids we had no idea what privileged visits these were.

Alistair eventually built a worldwide reputation through his brilliant short stories, and at the age of 65 released his first novel, No Great Mischief, for which he won the world's most lucrative prize for fiction, the Dublin Literary Award, among others.

It's a sad day for the Macleod and MacKinnon clans and a huge loss for Canadian literature. The cartoon pictured here originally appeared in the Chronicle Herald in 2001 after news broke of the Dublin Literary honour.

Rest in peace, Alistair. -Bruce"

Here is a write up from CTV about the Cape Breton author.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/...t-77-1.1783670

[California Highlander]

Beannachd leibh Alistair.

No Great Mischief is a great novel that reveals more upon each subsequent reading. There are some vague similarities to my Scottish ancestors' journey to the 21st century, so it resonates with me. Thank you Nathan for posting. I'll be getting his short stories in my reading stack.

[ASinclair]

I've added this novel to my reading list. Thanks for this post, Nathan.

[Nathan]

Here's a tribute from another author that I thought I would share today:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014..._his_life.html

[creagdhubh]

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing this, Nathan.

Tapadh leibh,

[Macman]

This is very sad. I just finished reading "Island" last week. It's a fantastic collection of his short stories.

[Nathan]

This is very sad. I just finished reading "Island" last week. It's a fantastic collection of his short stories.

I'll vouch for that, Island is a great collection.



He deserved his Order of Canada induction and his Dublin literary award. Inverness County has a lot to be proud of, having produced The Rankin Family, Buddy MacMaster, Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac and more. To be called the pride of Inverness County is high praise, let alone being called Canada's best author. A job well done, Alistair. Thanks for telling our stories to the world.

In my view, you are Cape Breton's Seannachie Laureate.