• Best-selling fiction author Alexander McCall Smith CBE who has sold over 40 million books and Medical Law Prof. on his reasons for writing

One of the bigger draws at the Galle Literary Festival last month (January) was one of the world’s best-selling authors –Alexander McCall Smith. Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh, McCall Smith has served as an expert on medical law and bioethics on several British and international committees, including as the Chair of the Ethics Committee of the British Medical Journal, the Vice Chair of the Human Genetics Commission of the United Kingdom, and a member of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s International Bioethics Committee. 

Hailing from Scotland, McCall Smith grew up in Bulawayo, Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, and was conferred his Bachelor of Laws and Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Edinburgh.

It was a literary competition that set him on his path of writing, when he entered a children’s book and a novel for adults. It was the children’s book that won him his first literary accolade. He has sold over 40 million copies of his books, which have been translated into 46 languages. He created ‘The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’ series set in Botswana and ‘The Sunday Philosophy Club’ series about Isabel Dalhousie, a philosopher in her 40s whose hobbies include classical music, young men, and suspicious death. McCall Smith’s ‘44 Scotland Street’ series is the longest running serial novel in the world. He also wrote a serialised online novel, ‘Corduroy Mansions’, writing one chapter a day in the first series. 

Besides his remarkable resume of fiction, he was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2007 New Year Honours List and this year (2024), Knight Bachelor for Services to Literature, Academia, and Charity. An amateur bassoonist, together with his physician wife Elizabeth Parry, he co-founded The Really Terrible Orchestra (RTO) and also founded Botswana’s No. 1 Ladies’ Opera House, writing the libretto for its first production, a version of ‘Macbeth’. McCall Smith was on Kaleidoscope last week.

Following are excerpts of the interview:

How has our little island been treating you?

It has, as always, been treating me very well. I’m always very happy to be in this beautiful country and the people are very nice. What more do you need? Southern Sri Lanka is the sort of place that I’d be happy to live in. It’s a very interesting place. As far as I’m concerned, the only criterion for somewhere that I can live in is the existence of human interest, so I could imagine living here very comfortably. I find myself remarking ‘I could live here’ when I visit other countries. I live in Scotland currently, but, I understand when people come to Sri Lanka and say that they could live here. I understand that feeling. 

Your new book came out on Valentine’s Day about a marriage bureau. What inspired this?

I’m very interested in the subject of relationships – friendships, romantic relationships, and all other kinds. In all my books, people are involved with other people. The idea of matchmaking is an intriguing one. In some societies, you have ‘official’ matchmakers who make it their business to bring people together. In other societies, you have friends who do that incidentally. A very important part of human life is the bringing of people together, for the purposes of finding somebody to connect with or to help in understanding what kind of person that they want to connect with. 

But, that is not the essence of your book. Your book is very funny. There is a bit of ‘Fawlty Towers’ in it, isn’t there? 

Things can go quite wrong with matchmaking. This book – which is the first of a series – introduces readers to a matchmaking company called ‘The Perfect Passion Company’. With a title like that, you have to be quite careful.

What is the heart of a detective story?

My detective stories aren’t really about crime. Rather unusually, they’re about people. In particular, one private detective, Mma Precious Ramotswe in Botswana, who helps people with problems in their lives, comes to mind. That’s rather interesting: that there are people who will help people in society with solving their problems. So, my stories aren’t about crime per se, but, they are about problems. 

How does your medical law feed into your detective stories?

It does a little bit, but, not to a great extent. Of course, what one is doing in their professional life will bleed through to one’s writing, inevitably. 

What made you get into fiction writing?

I’ve always wanted to write and I wrote as a child and as a young man. I continued with that. I take great delight in telling a story. That’s what a novelist is – a person who likes to tell stories.

You play the bassoon and you are the Co-Founder of The RTO. How did that come about?

My wife and I decided to form an orchestra for people who’d like to be in an orchestra but aren’t good enough. There are so many people who fit into that category, so, we set up this Orchestra that would have a name concerning which the people would know what they are getting into. The RTO has been a great success thus far. It doesn’t sound very good, but, that’s not the point. 

The Orchestra has toured New York and Europe. What has the feedback been like?

People get the joke. They love watching adults failing to play very well. People find that very amusing and entertaining, so we get a very good response.

When you put your plots together and as you keep writing, have things gone wrong at some point?

Sometimes, the plot can change quite radically once you’ve begun to write. At certain times, I find that I’ve written my characters into quite a pickle and I have to work out the plot to get them out of it. However, the plots always resolve well enough.

In ‘The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’ series, you are a male writing about females. Where do you get the insight from?

I do it by observing people. As a novelist, you look at other people, listening to what they say and you hear about them. You must have that curiosity to write a novel. I get that from my observation of people, from discussing things with people. That gives you plenty of material. 

What are the must-haves for you when you sit down to write? 

I always tend to have a cup of Red Bush – Rooibos – tea. Here in Sri Lanka, as a special treat, I might allow myself something like a diet Coke, which is a temporary measure, but, I’m a great fan of tea and I’ve visited several tea estates in Sri Lanka and enjoyed it very much.

Are you a pen to paper writer or have you gone into computers?

I usually use a word processor. I still use a notebook and a fountain pen when I write my poetry or when I write down my ideas. Most of my prose writing however, I will do on a computer. 

You wrote a poem about language used on aeroplanes. How did that come about?

I was on an aeroplane and was reflecting on the language used in aviation – the rather stilted version of English used to communicate with passengers. I wondered what it would sound like if the pilot was a bit of a poet and if he used poetic descriptions for the clouds, the plane, and the landing. With that in mind, I wrote the poem ‘Language of Pilots’ on the plane and I had great fun with it. 

Your books have been translated into 46 languages. Do you worry about the essence of your novels getting lost in translation?

Yes, that’s always an issue. Of course one can never tell, because, you cannot understand or appreciate all of the languages that your books have been translated into, so you have to rely on the translator and hope that they do a good job. Generally, they do a good job. They take their work very seriously and they are always interested in finding out about the special terms that you’ve used and of the particular context surrounding the books. I hope that they manage to capture the essence of the original and I think that they generally do. 

You wrote a serialised online novel and wrote one through The Scotsman (newspaper). What major differences do you notice between this method of writing and your usual method of writing?

With a novel that’s being published chapter by chapter in a newspaper as you write it, you have to observe different norms of structure. I write lengthy chapters of 1,200 words, which is the right size for that sort of novel. There’s a different structure to such a novel. I tend to have episodes of three chapters and then move on to write about different characters before returning to the main character later on. 

What’s your writing process? Do you make it a point to write every single day or is it when you get the urge to write?

As a writer, one must be disciplined and must sit at one’s desk. If you’re sitting and waiting for your muse to tap you on your shoulder, you might be seated for a long time because your muse might be otherwise engaged. 

How do you keep things relevant with the long series?

When you’re writing, you have to ask yourself whether what you’re writing is something that will engage the reader’s attention. The best way to figure this out is to see if you are interested in what you’re writing. If you find yourself yawning and getting bored with what you’re writing, that’s a sure sign that something has to change. 

Would Sri Lanka inspire a novel or two in any form?

It is the sort of place that is suggestive of fiction, because it’s very interesting and the people have very interesting stories. I did write a book where parts of it take place in this country’s previous existence and then leads to Britain thereafter. It takes place on a tea estate in Sri Lanka. But, I have to be careful, because I don’t know the country well enough to write about it, aside from making a passing reference to it. 

What’s brewing for you this year?

I’ve finished another novel which will be published in June, and I am working on Volume 25 of ‘The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’ series. Then, there’ll be a ‘44 Scotland Street’ book as well. My work is never done.

(The writer is the host, director, and co-producer of the weekly digital programme ‘Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo’ which can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. She has over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and social media.)