Alistair MacLeod was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and raised among an extended family in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He has published two internationally acclaimed collections of short stories: "The Lost Salt Gift of Blood" (1976) and "As Birds Bring Forth the Sun" (1986). In 2000, these two books, accompanied by two new stories, were published in a single-volume edition entitled "Island: The Collected Stories of Alistair MacLeod." In 1999, MacLeod's first novel, "No Great Mischief," was published to great critical acclaim, and was on national bestseller lists for more than a year. Th...