The city of Dublin is home to many literary greats

He beat off stiff competition for the prize from Ireland's Colm Toibin, Russia's Victor Pelevin, Jamaica's Margaret Cezair-Thompson, Scotland's Andrew O'Hagan and Mexico's Silvia Molina.

"There were some splendid books in the running," said MacLeod, speaking by phonelink to the ceremony in Dublin.

"I appreciate this a great deal and I think it is a very splendid award for literature and it is a very great honour for me."

Conflict

No Great Mischief tells the story of a Scot - Calum MacDonald - who sets sail for Canada with his extended family in 1779.

The story is narrated by his descendant Alexander MacDonald and tells the complicated story of immigration and inter-generational conflict.

Macleod now works as a professor of English at the University of Windsor, Ontario, but the vivid descriptions of manual work in No Great Mischief have been attributed to his earlier work experience.

Booker winner Margaret Atwood describes MacLeod as "wonderfully talented"

The book was described on publication as "a once in a lifetime masterpiece", by Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper.

The shortlist was compiled by a panel of judges who sifted through nominations by more than 200 libraries in 100 worldwide cities.

The six-member judging panel included Northern Irish poet Medbh McGuckian and London-based writer Fred D'Aguiar.

The Impac award was set up in 1996 by Dublin City Council and the US management company Impac to underline the Irish capital's stature as a literary centre.

Dublin is the birthplace of Nobel literature prize winners George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats and Samuel Beckett.

The only award which pays more than Impac is the Nobel prize, which rewards a broad body of works rather than a single book.