I woke up this morning to find my feeds filled with the news that CanLit icon Alistair MacLeod had died. I didn’t really know the man myself — I’d only met him once in passing at a writers fest years ago — but I had taught some of his stories in university back in my grad school days. They were always the works that my students actually found themselves caring about, almost against their will (survey courses generally having a narcotic effect on undergrads). He was a writer who made people care, as is evident in the number of tributes being written about him even as I write this. He made a difference, and that is all we can ask of life.

Mark Medley has written a good summary of MacLeod’s life and legacy at the National Post, and Steven Galloway has penned a personal piece of his encounters with MacLeod for the Globe. Good reads all around.