Sorche Nic Leodhas

LeClaire Gowans Alger (1898-1969) was an American author 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 book Always Room for One More, illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian, won the 1966 Caldecott Medal.

List of Collections

Most of Leodhas' works are in collections.

• Heather and Broom: Tales of the Scottish Highlands
• Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland
• Gaelic Ghosts
• Ghosts Go Haunting
• Claymore and Kilt: Tales of Scottish Kings and Castles
• Sea-Spell and Moor-Magic: Tales of the Western Isles
• By Loch and By Lin: Tales from Scottish Ballads
• Twelve Great Black Cats, and Other Eerie Scottish Tales