Ullapool Book Festival has booked acclaimed Canadian writer Alistair MacLeod to appear at this year’s festival.

The fourth Ullapool Book Festival will run from Friday 16th until Sunday 18th May and the full programme will be launched in the middle of March. The organisers are delighted with the line-up of writers and poets who will gather in Ullapool – one of whom will be Alistair MacLeod.

He 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. The novel won many awards, including the prestigious International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Ullapool Book Festival chairman Joan Michael said “Getting word a couple of weeks ago from Alistair MacLeod that he could come over and join us was the icing on the cake. At the end of each festival audience members have asked us how we would be able to equal the quality of the line-up for the following year. But we did, and this year is no different. Alistair is just one of this year’s guests. There’s another dozen – all of whom are exciting talents.”

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