LITTLE, Linda 1959-

PERSONAL: Born 1959. Education: Attended Queen's and Memorial universities.

ADDRESSES: Home—River John, Nova Scotia, Canada. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Goose Lane Editions, 469 King Street, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 1E5.

CAREER: Novelist and author of short fiction. Nova Scotia Museum, tour guide.

AWARDS, HONORS: Cunard First Book Award, and shortlists for Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction, and Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, all 2002, all for Strong Hollow.

WRITINGS:

Strong Hollow: A Novel, Goose Lane (Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada), 2001.

Short stories have appeared in literary journals and anthologies including Descent, Antigonish Review, and Journey Prize Anthology, 1999.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A second novel with the working title The Railbed Silences.

SIDELIGHTS: Linda Little's short stories have appeared in literary journals and anthologies. Her first novel, Strong Hollow, is set in the backwoods of Nova Scotia, Canada. At the age of nineteen Jackson Bigley, a shy, quiet young man, finds his alcoholic father dead in a ditch. When all the Bigley children come home for the funeral, Jackson can't stand the arguing that continually occurs. As a result, he leaves the family home and builds a cabin in the woods. He makes a meager living by bootlegging and half the time he is drunk to drown out the pain he feels inside. He meets a young fiddler named Ian and begins a love affair with him, which is Jackson's first homosexual experience. Ian gets Jackson to open up and brings out the best in him. When Ian leaves him, Jackson misses his fiddle music, which leads Jackson to his new profession of fiddle making. Soon Jackson's fiddles gain in popularity and he moves away from the backwoods to the city of Halifax. "The strength of Strong Hollow is Little's development of her characters. They are intricate and believable," noted James W. Ridout in a Lambda Book Report review.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Lambda Book Report, October, 2001, James W. Ridout, review of Strong Hollow, p. 20.

Quill & Quire, April, 2001, Stephanie Domet, review of Strong Hollow, p. 31.

ONLINE

Great West,http://www.greatwest.ca/ (September 5, 2002), Amy Dunn Moscoso, review of Strong Hollow.*