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Light Lifting In With Heavy Hitters

Alexander MacLeod's Book Shortlisted for Another Major Prize

Light Lifting, Alexander MacLeod's first book of short stories, has been nominated for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.


Light Lifting, the Giller-nominated collection of short stories written by Saint Mary’s University English professor, Alexander MacLeod, has been shortlisted for the world’s single, biggest prize for a collection of short stories.

 The winner of the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award will receive €35,000 for a short story published for the first time in English.

Launched in 2005 in the memory of Cork’s famous short story writer, Frank O’Connor, this award highlights the city’s important contribution to the short story as a literary art form.  It will be presented at the culmination of the Cork International Short Story Festival on Sunday September 18th.

Alexander MacLeod’s debut collection of short stories had only been out for a few days when it was shortlisted last October for the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the largest annual literary award in the country.

“It was a crazy surprise,” says MacLeod, who had just completed a book talk near Guelph, Ontario when he heard the news.

Since then Light Lifting has become a national best seller, snagging the much-coveted Margaret and John Savage First Book Award in May at the Atlantic Book Awards.

Alexander MacLeod is the son of Alistair Macleod, Canada’s celebrated short story writer and author of “No Great Mischief”, an extraordinary Cape Breton chronicle that earned its author another highly regarded Irish prize: the 2001 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

The six shortlisted books for the 2011 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award are:

  1. Gold Boy, Emerald Girl by Yiyun Li (Beijing-born, American Resident)
  2. Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod (Canadian)
  3. Saints and Sinners by Edna O’Brien (Irish)
  4. Death is Not an Option by Suzanne Rivecca (American)
  5. The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín (Irish)
  6. Marry or Burn by Valerie Trueblood (American)

During the week running up to the award's presentation, 500 short story collections will be left in public places around Cork City free for members of the public to take home and read.

 


 
 
 

This page last modified Tuesday, 12-Jul-2011 14:57:38 ADT