Canadian author Alistair MacLeod, who was best known as a short story writer but won the lucrative International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his debut novel, No Great Mischief, died yesterday, the Toronto Star reported. He was 77. His other books included the story collections The Lost Salt Gift of Blood, As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories and Island: The Complete Stories.
Doug Gibson, MacLeod's former publisher at McClelland & Stewart, said, "Alistair was that rare combination of a great writer and a great man. Whenever Alistair appeared in public, at readings or other literary events, people recognize that they were in the presence of a greatness that was very humble. And they realize that simply to be in his presence made their life a little better."
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Novelist and columnist F. Reid Buckley, who was, "in family lore, the most literary of Aloise and William F. Buckley Sr.'s 10 children, including former Senator James L. Buckley and the conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr.," died last Monday, the New York Times reported. He was 83.
