Born | R. Alexander McCall Smith 24 August 1948 (age 70) Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) | |
---|---|---|
Occupation | Writer, professor | |
Nationality | British | |
Citizenship | United Kingdom | |
Education | Christian Brothers College, Bulawayo | |
Alma mater | University of Edinburgh | |
Genre | Fiction, Crime fiction, Children's books, Academic non-fiction | |
Website | ||
alexandermccallsmith.co.uk |
R. Alexander 'Sandy' McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British-Zimbabwean writer and Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. In the late 20th century, McCall Smith became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on British and international committees concerned with these issues.
Alexander McCall Smith is currently considered a 'single author.' If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author. Alexander McCall Smith is composed of 44 names. You can examine and separate out names. Combine with.
He has since become internationally known as a writer of fiction, with sales of English-language versions exceeding 40 million by 2010 and translations into 46 languages.[1] He is most widely known as the creator of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.[1][2] 'McCall' is not a middle name: his two-part surname is 'McCall Smith'.[3][4]
- 5Bibliography
- 5.8Short stories
- 5.9Children's novels
Early life[edit]
Alexander McCall Smith was born in Bulawayo in 1948 in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), the youngest of four children.[5] His father worked as a public prosecutor in Bulawayo.[6] McCall Smith was educated at the Christian Brothers College in Bulawayo before moving to Scotland at age 17 to study law at the University of Edinburgh, where he earned his PhD in law.[5][7] He soon taught at Queen's University Belfast, and while teaching there he entered a literary competition: one a children's book and the other a novel for adults. He won in the children's category.[6]
Professional career[edit]
He returned to southern Africa in 1981 to help co-found the law school and teach law at the University of Botswana.[5] While there, he co-wrote The Criminal Law of Botswana (1992).[8]
He was Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and is now Emeritus Professor at its School of Law. He retains a further involvement with the University in relation to the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
He is the former chairman of the Ethics Committee of the British Medical Journal (until 2002), the former vice-chairman of the Human Genetics Commission of the United Kingdom, and a former member of the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO. After achieving success as a writer, he gave up these commitments. He was appointed a CBE in the New Year's Honours List issued at the end of December 2006 for services to literature.[9] In June 2007, he was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws at a ceremony celebrating the tercentenary of the University of Edinburgh School of Law. In June 2015 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at a graduation ceremony at the University of St Andrews.
Personal life[edit]
He settled in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1984. He and his wife Elizabeth, a physician, bought and renovated a large Victorian mansion in the Merchiston/Morningside area of the city. They lived there for almost 30 years, raising their two daughters Lucy and Emily, who attended the independent St George's School for Girls in the city.[1] Nearby, lived the authors J. K. Rowling, Ian Rankin and Kate Atkinson.[1][10]
An amateur bassoonist, he co-founded The Really Terrible Orchestra. He has helped to found Botswana's first centre for opera training, the Number 1 Ladies' Opera House,[11] for whom he wrote the libretto of their first production, a version of Macbeth set among a troop of baboons in the Okavango Delta.[12][13]
He is the author of a testimonial in The Future of the NHS (2006).[14]
![Bibliography Bibliography](/uploads/1/2/5/5/125518305/435457950.jpg)
In 2014, McCall Smith purchased the Cairns of Coll, a remote, uninhabited chain of islets in the Hebrides. He said, 'I intend to do absolutely nothing with them, and to ensure that, after I am gone, they are held in trust, unspoilt and uninhabited, for the nation. I want them kept in perpetuity as a sanctuary for wildlife – for birds and seals and all the other creatures to which they are home.” [15]
During a visit to New Zealand in 2014 McCall Smith visited Rawene where his grandfather George McCall Smith ran the hospital for 34 years and created the Hokianga area health service.[16]
Author[edit]
Alexander McCall Smith signing books in Helsinki April 2007
McCall Smith is a prolific author of fiction, with several series to his credit. He writes at a prodigious rate: 'Even when travelling, he never loses a day, turning out between 2,000 and 3,000 words [a day] – but more like 5,000 words when at home in Edinburgh. His usual rate is 1,000 words an hour.'[2] He has gained the most fame for his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, featuring Mma Precious Ramotswe and set in Gaborone, Botswana. The first novel was published in 1998. By 2009, the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series had sold more than 20 million copies in English editions.[2]
According to his publisher in Edinburgh, Polygon (an imprint of Birlinn Books), 'He was, until 2005, a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, but gave up the position to concentrate on his writing and now writes full time.'[17]
He published 30 books in the 1980s and 1990s before he began the series that has brought him the world's notice.[1] In 2008 he wrote a serialised online novel Corduroy Mansions, with the audio edition read by Andrew Sachs made available at the same pace as the daily publication. He wrote more than ten chapters ahead of publication, finding the experience of serialised publication to be 'a frightening thing to create a novel while his readers watched. 'I am like a man on a tightrope.'[2]
In 2009 he donated the short story 'Still Life' to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, comprising four collections of stories written by 38 British authors. McCall Smith's story was published in the 'Air' collection.[18]
Bibliography[edit]
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series[edit]
- 1998: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
- 2000: Tears of the Giraffe
- 2001: Morality for Beautiful Girls
- 2002: The Kalahari Typing School for Men
- 2003: The Full Cupboard of Life
- 2004: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (also known as: The Night-Time Dancer)
- 2006: Blue Shoes and Happiness
- 2007: The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
- 2008: The Miracle at Speedy Motors
- 2009: Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
- 2010: The Double Comfort Safari Club
- 2011: The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party
- 2012: The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection
- 2013: The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon
- 2014: The Handsome Man's De Luxe Café
- 2015: The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine
- 2016: Precious and Grace
- 2017: The House of Unexpected Sisters
- 2018: The Colours of all the Cattle
44 Scotland Street series[edit]
- 2005: 44 Scotland Street
- 2005: Espresso Tales
- 2006: Love Over Scotland
- 2007: The World According to Bertie
- 2008: The Unbearable Lightness of Scones
- 2010: The Importance of Being Seven
- 2011: Bertie Plays The Blues
- 2012: Sunshine on Scotland Street
- 2013: Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
- 2015: The Revolving Door of Life
- 2016: The Bertie Project
- 2017: A Time of Love and Tartan
The Sunday Philosophy Club series[edit]
also known as Isabel Dalhousie Mysteries
- 2004: The Sunday Philosophy Club
- 2005: Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
- 2006: The Right Attitude to Rain
- 2007: The Careful Use of Compliments
- 2008: The Comfort of Saturdays (UK title) or: The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday (American title)
- 2009: The Lost Art of Gratitude
- 2010: The Charming Quirks of Others
- 2011: The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
- 2012: The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds (released 23 Oct 2012 in UK)
- 2015: The Novel Habits of Happiness
- 2017: A Distant View of Everything (released 23 Mar 2017 in UK)
- 2018: The Quiet Side of Passion (released 7 Jun 2018 in UK)
Corduroy Mansions series[edit]
- 2009: Corduroy Mansions
- 2009: The Dog Who Came in from the Cold (published online daily in serial form; also published as a hardcover book on 1 May 2010)
- 2011: A Conspiracy of Friends
Professor Dr von Igelfeld Entertainments series[edit]
- 1997: Portuguese Irregular Verbs[19]
- 2003: The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs
- 2003: At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances
- 2004: The 2½ Pillars of Wisdom – An omnibus edition of the first three von Igelfeld titles
- 2011: Unusual Uses for Olive Oil
Detective Varg series[edit]
- 2019: The Strange Case of the Moderate Extremists
- 2019: The Department of Sensitive Crimes
- 2019: Varg in Love (eBook only, for Valentine's Day)
Other novels[edit]
- 2008: La's Orchestra Saves the World
- 2012: Trains and Lovers
- 2014: The Forever Girl
- 2014: Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party
- 2015: Emma: A Modern Retelling
- 2016: My Italian Bulldozer
- 2017: The Good Pilot, Peter Woodhouse
Short stories[edit]
- 2011: 'The Strange Story of Bobby Box' (published in the young adult anthology: What You Wish For)
Anthologies[edit]
- 1991: Children of Wax: African Folk Tales
- 1995: Heavenly Date and Other Flirtations
- 2004: The Girl Who Married a Lion and Other Tales from Africa
- 2006: Baboons Who Went This Way and That (Tales from Africa)
- 2015: Chance Developments: Unexpected Love Stories
Children's novels[edit]
- 1980: The White Hippo
- 1984: The Perfect Hamburger
- 1988: Alix and the Tigers
- 1990: The Tin Dog
- 1991: Calculator Annie
- 1991: Marzipan Max
- 1991: The Popcorn Pirates
- 1992: The Doughnut Ring
- 1993: Who Invented Peanut Butter?
- 1994: Paddy and the Ratcatcher
- 1995: The Muscle Machine
- 1996: The Bubblegum Tree
- 1997: The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean
- 2000: Teacher Trouble
- 2006: Dream Angus
- 2016: Freddie Mole, Lion Tamer
- 2018: Hari and his Electric Feet
- 2018: Max Champion and the Great Race Car Robbery
School Ship Tobermory[edit]
- 2015: School Ship Tobermory
- 2016: The Sands of Shark Island
- 2018: The Race to Kangaroo Cliff
Akimbo[edit]
- 1992: Akimbo and the Lions
- 1993: Akimbo and the Crocodile Man
- 2005: Akimbo and the Elephants
- 2006: Akimbo and the Snakes
- 2008: Akimbo and the Baboons
Harriet Bean[edit]
- 1993: The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean
- 1990: The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean
- 1991: Harriet Bean and the League of Cheats
Max & Maddy[edit]
- 1997: Max & Maddy and the Bursting Balloons Mystery
- 1999: Max & Maddy and the Chocolate Money Mystery
Young Precious Ramotswe[edit]
- 2010: Precious and the Puggies[20] (republished in 2011 as: Precious and the Monkeys)
- 2012: Precious and the Mystery of Meerkat Hill
- 2012: The Great Cake Mystery
- 2013: Precious and the Missing Lion
- 2015: Precious and the Zebra Necklace
Memoir/literary appreciation[edit]
- 2013: What Auden Can Do for You
Academic texts[edit]
- 1978: Power and Manoeuvrability (with Tony Carty)
- 1983: Law and Medical Ethics (with J. Kenyon Mason) (this text has gone through several editions: an eighth, by Mason and Graeme Laurie, was published in 2010; McCall Smith contributed to the first six editions)
- 1987: Butterworths Medico-Legal Encyclopaedia (with J. Kenyon Mason)
- 1990: Family Rights: Family Law and Medical Advances (with Elaine Sutherland)
- 1991: All About Drink and Drug Abuse (educational text)
- 1992: The Criminal Law of Botswana (with Kwame Frimpong)
- 1993: The Duty to Rescue (with Michael Menlowe, 1993)
- 1992: Scots Criminal Law (with David H Sheldon, second edition published 1997)
- 1997: Forensic Aspects of Sleep (with Colin Shapiro)
- 2000: Justice and the Prosecution of Old Crimes (with Daniel W. Shuman)
- 2001: Errors, Medicine and the Law (with Alan Merry)
- 2003: A Draft Criminal Code for Scotland (with Eric Clive, Pamela Ferguson and Christopher Gane)
- 2004: Creating Humans: Ethical Questions where Reproduction and Science Collide (collected lectures, audio recordings)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ abcdePhilby, Charlotte (19 June 2010). 'Alexander McCall Smith: The No1 novelist's guide to Edinburgh'. The Independent. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- ^ abcdGrice, Elizabeth (13 March 2009). 'Alexander McCall Smith talks about 'Corduroy Mansions' – interview'. The Telegraph. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
To say McCall Smith is a literary phenomenon doesn't quite describe what has happened.
- ^McCall Smith, Alexander. 'A. McCall Smith (McCallSmith) on Twitter'. Twitter.com. Twitter.com. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
- ^'McCall Smith praises inspiration of islands'. The Herald Scotland. 13 October 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
- ^ abc'Alexander McCall Smith: Reader's Guide'(PDF). Just Buffalo Literary Center. Buffalo, New York. 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
- ^ abHunter, Jeffrey W. (2009). Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit, Michigan: Gale. ISBN978-1-4144-1944-2.
- ^Nicoll, Ruaridh (2 May 2004). 'Handy Sandy'. The Observer. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
- ^Frimpong, Kwame; McCall Smith, Alexander (1992). The Criminal Law of Botswana. South Africa: Juta Publishers. ISBN978-0702126703. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ^'New Year Honours—United Kingdom'. The London Gazette. 29 December 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2009.[dead link]
- ^'Ian Rankin'. No. 1 Magazine, Scotland's Glamorous Glossy. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- ^Clayton, Jonathon; Lister, David (22 March 2008). 'Alexander McCall Smith creates the No 1 Ladies' opera house'. The Times. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008.
- ^AFP news report on the 'Okavango Macbeth' on YouTube
- ^'The Okavango Macbeth'. Goodmusic. 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ^Tempest, Michelle (2006). The Future of the NHS. ISBN1-85811-369-5. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
- ^'McCall Smith vows to give Cairns of Coll back'. www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^'Renowned Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith has link with Northland'. Northern Advocate. 1 June 2014. ISSN1170-0777. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^'Alexander McCall Smith'. Birlinn. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ^Oxfam: Ox-TalesArchived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Maclean Dubois; 1st Edition (1997) Retrieved 5 December 2012.
- ^Scots language translation by James Robertson
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Alexander McCall Smith |
- Alexander McCall Smith on IMDb
- Alexander McCall Smith at British Council: Literature
- Interview with the author at Powells.com.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_McCall_Smith&oldid=900893386'
MY ITALIAN BULLDOZER
By Alexander McCall Smith
232 pp. Pantheon Books. $25.95.
By Alexander McCall Smith
232 pp. Pantheon Books. $25.95.
According to Alexander McCall Smith’s website, he has four books coming out in 2017, plus paperbacks from last year’s hardcover publications. His first book was published in 1980. How many have followed? Even he must lose count. One of this year’s releases is the paperback edition of “Precious and Grace,” Volume 17 in the much-adored No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, which propelled McCall Smith into dazzling worldwide popularity. Though this can’t be true, he seems to write a book as easily as I bake a cake.
I have liked his Isabel Dalhousie series as much as the Ladies’ Detective Agency books. In addition to relishing the gentle sleuthing and subtle plots, I have become friends with his “traditionally built” detective Precious Ramotswe in Botswana and his philosopher detective Isabel Dalhousie in Scotland. Who wouldn’t like to have tea with either of these clever women? I recently read one of McCall Smith’s stand-alone novels, “Trains and Lovers,” in which four strangers share their private stories while their train car hurtles toward London. As a chance encounter turns intimate, we become aware how the stories we tell ourselves take form in the telling. This is McCall Smith’s genius — he makes you love the people in his books. In crass times like these, the deep civility that powers his voice is a balm. That and he makes you laugh, and how many can claim that?
The main character in McCall Smith’s new book, “My Italian Bulldozer,” is a Scottish food writer, Paul Stuart, who goes to Tuscany, as many have, “in pursuit of a period of freedom.” He plans to finish his latest work, “Paul Stuart’s Tuscan Table” — and escape the detritus of a broken four-year relationship with his live-in lover, Becky, who has run off with a fitness instructor, “the tattooed mesomorph.” His taken-for-granted editor, Gloria, arranges the details of his escape.
On landing in Pisa, Paul encounters car rental complications that result in a few hours in a jail cell shared with a scary criminal comically named Occhidilupo. Released from the mix-up, and with no cars available on a holiday weekend, Paul must rely on a bulldozer for his drive to Montalcino. And so we’re off on a bumpy Tuscan idyll.
In the beautiful hill town, Paul succumbs to Brunello, savory mushrooms and wild boar with fennel. He’s determined to let “the beauty of the Tuscan countryside work its magic” on his ponderous manuscript. He begins to make friends around the piazza. Over coffee, he reads in the schoolmaster’s newspaper that the odious Occhidilupo has escaped and is believed to be hiding not far away. This part of the book is slowly paced, but when Paul, still in his bulldozer, rescues an attractive American art historian named Anna, who has run her car into a ditch, the velocity picks up, then zooms forward. Suddenly, the errant Becky reappears. Then, right on her heels, Paul’s editor arrives. And Gloria seems to have more than well-edited books on her mind.
The bulldozer has starring moments. It’s briefly stolen. Then no one knows how a hated wall suddenly fell in the night, restoring the view for those across the way. Lending a hand to a winemaker, Paul uses his bulldozer to move a hillock, only to discover that he’s shifted a boundary line. His friend’s vineyard of Rosso di Montalcino now qualifies for the upgraded, highly coveted Brunello status.
The countryside does work its magic. Paul transfers to his manuscript “the quiet satisfaction of life on the land, the rhythms, the sense of history — of things having been for centuries the way they were now.” His love life, in the end, comes clear. He’s smitten with Italy and thinking of a book on Venetian seafood. Smart boy.