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Alexander MacLeod was born in Inverness, Cape Breton and raised in Windsor, Ontario. His first collection of short stories (Light Lifting, Biblioasis 2010), was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Prize, two Atlantic Book Awards, and went on to become a national bestseller. Alexander holds degrees from the University of Windsor, the University of Notre Dame, and McGill; he currently lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and teaches at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.
"His brilliant debut collection, Light Lifting, is engrossing,
thrilling and ultimately satisfying: each story has the weight of a
novel. The young Canadian writer is already winning plaudits in his
own country. He can expect acclaim far beyond ... The choice of
words is spare, simple and unaffected, and the rhythm is perfect
... stunning work. Mr. MacLeod's next contribution will be eagerly
anticipated."The Economist
"MacLeod's compassion and gift for a telling detail go a long
way...[he] has recently been shortlisted for four literary prizes.
On this evidence, he deserves it."—The Guardian
"Across seven wide-ranging tales, lives are saved, others are lost,
and redemption, both physical and spiritual, is occasionally found.
Nevertheless, the world harnessed by MacLeod is also one that
bursts with wonder and nostalgia, and the author lets his subjects
shine with both raw power and supple beauty throughout. Each story
in Light Lifting is a true marvelthere are no fillers hereand
with every passing page MacLeod firmly establishes himself as a
bright new talent in literary fiction." Benjamin Woodard, Rain
Taxi
"MacLeod's Light Lifting arrives across the Atlantic laden with
praise."Irish Times
"Alexander MacLeod demonstrates a strapping writerly prowess. If
literature were an athletic competition he'd certainly deserve a
silver medal, and I suspect he'll soon be vying for gold." The
National Post
"Alexander MacLeod looks like a heavyweight in the making."Irish
TImes
"create[s] ripples in the mind of the reader"The Independent
"Alexander MacLeod's control of cadence and rhythm is so complete
that it seems effortless.... [These stories] contain a rare kind of
truthfulness." Colm Toibin
"Light Lifting shows MacLeod is a honed storyteller. What will
surprise, and surely impress, is the fresh, imaginative subject
matter. And the integral prose: MacLeod has the ability to wave his
wand and paint a picture in milliseconds, carving images out of
dust."THIS Magazine
"Taut to a point of richness, deft in the dark, with an
understanding of narrative suspense that's somehow actually
beautiful, Light Lifting is a powerful collection and the debut of
a writer clearly a master of the form." Ali Smith
"To read each story in this gorgeous collection is to live a series
of rich and dangerous lives along the Canadian-Michigan border. The
forces threatening Alexander MacLeod’s characters include speeding
trains, rip tides, lice, old age, automobile assembly lines, the
exuberant despair of vacationing in Nova Scotia, and everything
that lurks in the Detroit River. MacLeod is a literary rock star,
and his prose is wise and rowdy music. I will recommend this book
to everyone."Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage
"Rarely does fiction inhabit the bodythe moving, athletic bodyas
fully as in Alexander MacLeod’s debut story collection. Whether
describing what it is to run track, to swim against a current, to
build cars or to haul bricks, MacLeod brings into vivid concrete
language the physical experiences that mark us as profoundly as any
thought. His stories are a careful marriage of the lyric and the
narrative: each unfolds around a resonant, ineffable moment,
replete with history and emotion, a Gordian knot comprised of all
the strands that lead up to and away from it. Sensitive and subtle,
MacLeod is a writer through whose deliberately partial and
quotidian pieces shimmers life’s unspoken complexity." Giller
Prize jury citation
"[MacLeod’s] capacity to encapsulate entire lives in the span of a
few pages rivals Alice Munro. This is one of the finest collections
of short fiction to appear . . . in a long, long time." Quill &
Quire (Best Books of the Year citation)
"MacLeod’s straight-up themes of endurance and frailty, boyish
transgression or gnawing mid-life regret, unfold without a trace of
cliché or sentiment. Muscular and uniquely voiced, these stories
swim entirely in their own waters." Globe and Mail (Best Books of
the Year citation)
"Few authors . . . have delved so deeply into the workplaces of
[the] working-class as MacLeod, and the characters he finds there
are as rich and complex as any of the cerebral exotics that
populate the work of Ondaatje, Urquhart and Atwood." Toronto
Star
"MacLeod’s prose is reminiscent of Annie Proulx’s: It carries much
weight in its sparse, straightforward style." Hamilton
Spectator
"An impressive collection . . . The diversity of characters is
matched by the variety of tones." National Post
"The stories in Alexander MacLeod's Light Lifting are dense with
the tragic poetry of the everyday. His narrators speak in a
deceptively relaxed vernacular that reflects a fierce emotional
intensity just beneath the surface of the words, the stoic heroism
of the common man and woman, and MacLeod's commitment to realistic
story-telling." Danuta Gleed Jury Citation
"His brilliant debut collection, Light Lifting, is engrossing,
thrilling and ultimately satisfying: each story has the weight of a
novel. The young Canadian writer is already winning plaudits in his
own country. He can expect acclaim far beyond ... The choice of
words is spare, simple and unaffected, and the rhythm is perfect
... stunning work. Mr. MacLeod's next contribution will be eagerly
anticipated."—The Economist
"MacLeod's compassion and gift for a telling detail go a long
way...[he] has recently been shortlisted for four literary prizes.
On this evidence, he deserves it."—The Guardian
"Across seven wide-ranging tales, lives are saved, others are lost,
and redemption, both physical and spiritual, is occasionally found.
Nevertheless, the world harnessed by MacLeod is also one that
bursts with wonder and nostalgia, and the author lets his subjects
shine with both raw power and supple beauty throughout. Each story
in Light Lifting is a true marvel—there are no fillers here—and
with every passing page MacLeod firmly establishes himself as a
bright new talent in literary fiction." Benjamin Woodard, Rain
Taxi
"MacLeod's Light Lifting arrives across the Atlantic laden with
praise."—Irish Times
"Alexander MacLeod demonstrates a strapping writerly prowess. If
literature were an athletic competition he'd certainly deserve a
silver medal, and I suspect he'll soon be vying for gold." —The
National Post
"Alexander MacLeod looks like a heavyweight in the making."—Irish
TImes
"create[s] ripples in the mind of the reader"—The Independent
"Alexander MacLeod's control of cadence and rhythm is so complete
that it seems effortless.... [These stories] contain a rare kind of
truthfulness." —Colm Toibin
"Light Lifting shows MacLeod is a honed storyteller. What will
surprise, and surely impress, is the fresh, imaginative subject
matter. And the integral prose: MacLeod has the ability to wave his
wand and paint a picture in milliseconds, carving images out of
dust."—THIS Magazine
"Taut to a point of richness, deft in the dark, with an
understanding of narrative suspense that's somehow actually
beautiful, Light Lifting is a powerful collection and the debut of
a writer clearly a master of the form." —Ali Smith
"To read each story in this gorgeous collection is to live a series
of rich and dangerous lives along the Canadian-Michigan border. The
forces threatening Alexander MacLeod’s characters include speeding
trains, rip tides, lice, old age, automobile assembly lines, the
exuberant despair of vacationing in Nova Scotia, and everything
that lurks in the Detroit River. MacLeod is a literary rock star,
and his prose is wise and rowdy music. I will recommend this book
to everyone."—Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage
"Rarely does fiction inhabit the body—the moving, athletic body—as
fully as in Alexander MacLeod’s debut story collection. Whether
describing what it is to run track, to swim against a current, to
build cars or to haul bricks, MacLeod brings into vivid concrete
language the physical experiences that mark us as profoundly as any
thought. His stories are a careful marriage of the lyric and the
narrative: each unfolds around a resonant, ineffable moment,
replete with history and emotion, a Gordian knot comprised of all
the strands that lead up to and away from it. Sensitive and subtle,
MacLeod is a writer through whose deliberately partial and
quotidian pieces shimmers life’s unspoken complexity." —Giller
Prize jury citation
"[MacLeod’s] capacity to encapsulate entire lives in the span of a
few pages rivals Alice Munro. This is one of the finest collections
of short fiction to appear . . . in a long, long time." —Quill &
Quire (Best Books of the Year citation)
"MacLeod’s straight-up themes of endurance and frailty, boyish
transgression or gnawing mid-life regret, unfold without a trace of
cliché or sentiment. Muscular and uniquely voiced, these stories
swim entirely in their own waters." —Globe and Mail (Best Books of
the Year citation)
"Few authors . . . have delved so deeply into the workplaces of
[the] working-class as MacLeod, and the characters he finds there
are as rich and complex as any of the cerebral exotics that
populate the work of Ondaatje, Urquhart and Atwood." —Toronto
Star
"MacLeod’s prose is reminiscent of Annie Proulx’s: It carries much
weight in its sparse, straightforward style." —Hamilton
Spectator
"An impressive collection . . . The diversity of characters is
matched by the variety of tones." —National Post
"The stories in Alexander MacLeod's Light Lifting are dense with
the tragic poetry of the everyday. His narrators speak in a
deceptively relaxed vernacular that reflects a fierce emotional
intensity just beneath the surface of the words, the stoic heroism
of the common man and woman, and MacLeod's commitment to realistic
story-telling." —Danuta Gleed Jury Citation
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