(© Johntcosta, 2011) *
AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
with Alison MacLeod
*
Alison MacLeod has a special relationship with the writing of Anton Chekhov. Now, in this exclusive interview, MacLeod talks with Zoe Gilbert about three of her recent stories inspired by Chekhov – collected in all the beloved ghosts – discussing the subtle humours of his work, his lightness of touch and his anti-heroic view of human nature.
~
Alison MacLeod’s new story collection, all the beloved ghosts (Bloomsbury and Penguin Canada), was described by the Sunday Times as a ‘collection to savour’. The Daily Mail says: ‘If you read only one book of short stories this year, it should be this one.’ Alison’s most recent novel, Unexploded (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Books), was long-listed for The 2013 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and was one of The Observer’s ‘Books of the Year’. The Independent described it as a ‘a novel of staggering elegance and beauty’. In 2016, she was joint recipient of The Eccles British Library Writer’s Award and is currently writing her next novel. She is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester and lives in Brighton. www.alison-macleod.com
~
Listen to the Interview
with Alison MacLeod:
(39 minutes)
~
Zoe Gilbert’s stories have been published in anthologies and journals worldwide, and won prizes including the Costa Short Story Award 2014. Her first book, Folk, is forthcoming with Bloomsbury in early 2018. She lives in London where she teaches and mentors creative writers at London Lit Lab, as well as working on her Creative Writing PhD at the University of Chichester. You can read some of her stories at mindandlanguage.blogspot.co.uk.
