Sorche Nic Leodhas

LeClaire Gowans Alger (May 20, 1898 – November 14, 1969) was an American writer better known under her pseudonym Sorche Nic Leodhas, or simply Sorche Leodhas. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, she was a sickly child, eventually being homeschooled. Alger was a known librarian, working from 1915 to 1966, while the imaginary Sorche was a storyteller. She sought out traditional Scottish tales that had never been written down before. She won a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1962 and a Newbery Honor for Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland in 1963. Her 1965 children's picture book Always Room for One More, illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian, won the 1966 Caldecott Medal.

Awards edit

Most of Leodhas' works are in collections.

Heather and Broom: Tales of the Scottish Highlands (1960), illustrated by Consuelo Joerns
Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland (1962), illus. Evaline Ness
All in the Morning Early (1963), illus. Evaline Ness
Gaelic Ghosts: Tales of the Supernatural from Scotland (1964), illus. Nonny Hogrogian
Ghosts Go Haunting (1965)
Claymore and Kilt: Tales of Scottish Kings and Castles (1967), illus. Leo and Diane Dillon
Sea-Spell and Moor-Magic: Tales of the Western Isles (1968), illus. Vera Bock
By Loch and by Lin: Tales from Scottish Ballads (1969), illus. Vera Bock
Twelve Great Black Cats and Other Eerie Scottish Tales (1971), illus. Vera Bock

"Leclaire Alger – Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library". Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. 2020-12-14. Retrieved 2022-07-12.