Biography

Alexander McCall Smith was born in Bulawayo in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), where his father worked as a public prosecutor. He was educated at the Christian Brothers College before moving to Scotland to study law at the University of Edinburgh, where he earned his PhD in law. 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, and published 30 books in the 1980s and 1990s.

He returned to southern Africa in 1981 to help co-found and teach law at the University of Botswana. While there, he co-wrote what remains the only book on the country's legal system, The Criminal Law of Botswana (1992). He returned in 1984 to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he lives today with his wife, Elizabeth, a physician, and their two daughters Lucy and Emily (he lives close to the authors J. K. Rowling, Ian Rankin and Kate Atkinson). He was Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh at one time 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 British Medical Journal Ethics Committee (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 December 2006 New Year's Honours List for services to literature. 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.

He is an amateur bassoonist, and co-founder of The Really Terrible Orchestra. He has helped to found Botswana's first centre for opera training, the Number 1 Ladies' Opera House, for whom he wrote the libretto of their first production, a version of Macbeth set among a troop of baboons in the Okavango Delta. He is also the author of a testimonial in The Future of the NHS (2006).

In 2009, he donated the short story Still Life to Oxfam's "Ox-Tales" project—four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. McCall Smith's story was published in the "Air" collection. Former First Lady of the United States Laura Bush is a big fan of McCall Smith's, as is Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Bibliography

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series

• 1999: 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

44 Scotland Street series

• 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

The Sunday Philosophy Club series

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 (published 23 Oct 2012 in UK)
• 2015: The Novel Habits of Happiness

Corduroy Mansions

• 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

• 1997: Portuguese Irregular Verbs
• 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

Other novels

• 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

Short stories

• 2011: "The Strange Story of Bobby Box" (published in the young adult anthology: What You Wish For)

Anthologies

• 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

Children's novels

• 1980: The White Hippo
• 1984: The Perfect Hamburger
• 1988: Alix and the Tigers
• 1990: The Tin Dog
• 1991: Calculator Annie
• 1991: The Popcorn Pirates
• 1992: The Doughnut Ring
• 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

Akimbo

• 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

• 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

• 1997: Max & Maddy and the Bursting Balloons Mystery
• 1999: Max & Maddy and the Chocolate Money Mystery

Young Precious Ramotswe

• 2010: Precious and the Puggies (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

Academic texts

• 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)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]