Fishing the Sloe-Black River Stories

The short fiction of Colum McCann documents a dizzying cast of characters in exile, loss, love, and displacement. There is the worn boxing champion who steals clothes from a New Orleans laundromat, the rumored survivor of Hiroshima who emigrates to the tranquil coast of Western Ireland, the Irishwoman who journeys through America in search of silence and solitude. But what is found in these stories, and discovered by these characters, is the astonishing poetry and peace found in the mundane: a memory, a scent on the wind, the grace in the curve of a street.Fishing the Sloe-Black Riveris a work of pure augury, of the channeling and re-spoken lives of people exposed to the beauty of the everyday. Colum McCannis the author of the novelsThis Side of BrightnessandSongdogs, as well as the story collectionsEverything in This Country MustandFishing the Sloe-Black River. A contributor toThe New Yorker,The New York Times Magazine,The Atlantic Monthly, andGQ, he has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Hennessy Award, the 2002 Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award, as well as being nominated as finalist for the IMPAC Prize. Born in Dublin, Ireland, he currently lives with his wife and children in New York City. The short fiction of Colum McCann documents a dizzying cast of characters in exile, loss, love, and displacement. There is the worn boxing champion who steals clothes from a New Orleans laundromat, the rumored survivor of Hiroshima who emigrates to the tranquil coast of Western Ireland, the Irishwoman who journeys through America in search of silence and solitude. But what is found in these stories, and discovered by these characters, is the astonishing poetry and peace found in the mundane: a memory, a scent on the wind, the grace in the curve of a street.Fishing the Sloe-Black Riveris a work of pure augury, of the channeling and respoken lives of people exposed to the beauty of the everyday. "A gifted and determined stylist, Colum McCann seems to have taken a vow never to write a dull line."The New York Times Book Review "Rich, powerful stories that place McCann at the front ranks of contemporary Irish writers."San Francisco Chronicle "Beautiful . . . These well-made stories, written with fierce beauty, are sure of their effect and power."The Washington Post Book World "There is magic in this McCann, and he brings to each page a special sorcery with the voices he conjures . . . No one can read through and not emerge feeling changed, somehow ennobled by it."The Baltimore Sun "Tender and tough, artfully controlled and freewheeling . . . McCann has made himself a writer of consequence."Newsday

Colum McCann is the author of the novels This Side of Brightness and Songdogs, as well as two critically acclaimed story collections. He has received a Pushcart Prize, been an IMPAC finalist, and was named the first winner of the Grace Kelly Memorial Foundation Award and the Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award. A contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and GQ, he lives in New York City.