Alison MacLeod is a Canadian British

literary fiction Literary fiction, serious fiction, high literature, or artistic literature, and sometimes just literature, encompasses fiction books and writings that are more character-driven rather than plot-driven, that examine the human condition, or that are ...

writer. She is most noted for her 2013 novel ''Unexploded'', a longlisted nominee for the 2013 Man Booker Prize, and her 2017 short story collection ''All the Beloved Ghosts'', a shortlisted finalist for the

Governor General's Award for English-language fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a fiction book written in English.2017 Governor General's Awards The shortlisted nominees for the 2017 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 4, 2017,

."Finalists named for 2017 Governor General's Literary Awards"
''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'', October 4, 2017. MacLeod is an occasional contributor to BBC Radio 4, ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Guardian'', and has appeared at numerous literary festivals in the UK and internationally.

Background

Born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

of Nova Scotian parents and raised in Montreal and

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, MacLeod has lived in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

since 1987. She is a citizen of both Canada and the United Kingdom. She studied English literature at

Mount Saint Vincent University Mount Saint Vincent University, often referred to as the Mount, is a public, primarily undergraduate, university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and was established in 1873. Mount Saint Vincent offers undergraduate Arts, Science, Edu ...

in Halifax and later, completed a masters in creative writing and a Ph.D. at the

University of Lancaster Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...

. She was professor of contemporary fiction at the

University of Chichester The University of Chichester is a public university located in West Sussex, England, which became a university in 2005. Campuses are based in the city of Chichester and the nearby coastal resort of Bognor Regis and an associate campus for comm ...

until 2018, and is now a visiting professor. She is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund.

Career

MacLeod published her debut novel, ''The Changeling'', in 1996. It is the story of the 18th-century historical figure

Anne Bonny Anne Bonny (disappeared after 28 November 1720) was a pirate who served under John Rackham. Amongst the few recorded female pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy, she has become one of the most recognized pirates of the era, as well as in the ...

, a

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

woman who was sentenced to hang for piracy. Her second novel, ''The Wave Theory of Angels'' (2005), explored a 13th-century theological uproar and, in a parallel storyline, controversies in early 21st-century particle physics. In 2007, MacLeod published her first short story collection, ''Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction'', featuring fifteen stories on the complications of desire. In 2013, she received international attention for her third novel ''Unexploded''. It was longlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, adapted for BBC Radio and named one of the Observer Books of the Year. It presents a non-triumphalist perspective on the early years of the second world war in Britain, confronting the bigotry that can unfold at times of national strife. It received positive reviews, including: "a piece of finely wrought ironwork, uncommonly delicate but at the same time astonishingly strong and tensile; it's a novel of staggering elegance and beauty" and "Like her modernist forebears, Macleod knows that life and death, the terrible and the mundane always co-exist – her genius lies in illustrating these truths while simultaneously spinning a bona fide pageturner." MacLeod published her second short story collection, ''All the Beloved Ghosts'', in 2017. Named one of ''The Guardian'''s "Best Books of 2017", it was described as an "exceptionally accomplished collection" that blends fiction, biography and memoir. It was shortlisted for the

Edge Hill Short Story Prize The Edge Hill Short Story Prize is a short-story contest held annually by Edge Hill University. Background The concept for the prize was developed by Professor Ailsa Cox following a 2006 short-story conference at Edge Hill. Candidates must be b ...

and Canada’s Governor General’s award for fiction. A story from this collection, "The Heart of Denis Noble", was shortlisted for the 2011

BBC National Short Story Award The BBC National Short Story Award (known as the National Short Story Award in 2006 and 2007) has been described as "one of the most prestigious wardsfor a single short story" and the richest prize in the world for a single short story. It is an ...

. The story features a fictionalised version of biologist Denis Noble recovering from a heart attack. MacLeod published her next novel, ''Tenderness'', in 2021. The novel tells the story of

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...

's ''

Lady Chatterley's Lover ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the final novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Florence, Italy, and in 1929, in Paris, France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Ki ...

'' from conception through to the indecency trial, with its title taken from Lawrence's working title for his novel. Reviews said that the book "pulls off a magnificent nonlinear spin on ''

'' and the

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

during

's life and beyond... this places MacLeod among the best of contemporary novelists." It traces "''Lady Chatterley'''s sources in the thickets of Lawrence's own biography, then follows its tortured progress towards the light through the indecency trial," where in her last days before becoming first lady,

Jackie Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...

, to honor a novel she loves, attends the trial. ''Tenderness'' was on the ''New York Times'' "Best Historical Novels of 2021" and "The Season's Best New Historical Novels" lists.

Awards

* 2011

Shortlist for "The Heart of Denis Noble" * 2013

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

Longlist for ''Unexploded'',

Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited is a publishing imprint and originally a British publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half- Scot half- American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''Jame ...

* 2016 Eccles British Library Writer in Residence Award * 2017

Shortlist for ''All the Beloved Ghosts''

Selected bibliography

Novels

* * * *

Short story collections

* *

As contributor

References

External links

* *
Alison MacLeod's top 10 stories about infidelity
' from The Guardian *
''No Excess Baggage'' for The Sunday Times
"Ahead of the naming of the winner of this year's EFG Private Bank award at the festival, Alison MacLeod considers what we can learn from the greatest short stories." {{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, Alison 21st-century British novelists 21st-century British short story writers 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian short story writers Academics of the University of Chichester Alumni of Lancaster University British women novelists British women short story writers Canadian women novelists Canadian women short story writers Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Canadian emigrants to the United Kingdom Living people 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian expatriate writers Year of birth missing (living people) Novelists from Montreal