Alexander McCall Smith

Infobox Writer
name = Alexander McCall Smith


imagesize =
caption =
pseudonym =
birth_date = birth date and age|1948|08|24
birth_place = Bulawayo,Southern Rhodesia
death_date =
death_place =
occupation =
nationality = British
period =
genre = Crime fiction, Children's books
subject =
movement =
debut_works =
influences =
influenced =


website = http://www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk/
footnotes =

Alexander (R.A.A.) "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE, (born August 24, 1948) is a Zimbabwean-born British writer and Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. 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. He has since become internationally known as a writer of fiction, most widely known as the creator of the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series.

Biography

Born in Bulawayo, Rhodesia, Alexander McCall Smith was educated at CBC Bulawayo before moving to Scotland to study law at the University of Edinburgh. [Cite news|last=Nicoll|first=Ruaridh|title=Handy Sandy|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,1207967,00.html|work=The Observer|date=2004-05-02|accessdate=2008-05-12] After returning to southern Africa to teach law at the University of Botswana, he returned once more to Edinburgh, where he lives today with his wife, Elizabeth (an Edinburgh physician), and their two daughters Lucy and Emily. He was sometime 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 of Edinburgh 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 Commission of UNESCO. Due to his late success as a writer these other commitments could not be continued.

He is an amateur bassoonist, and co-founder of [http://thereallyterribleorchestra.com/ The Really Terrible Orchestra] . He is also the author of a testimonial in "The Future of the NHS" (2006) (ISBN 1-85811-369-5) edited by Dr Michelle Tempest.

He was appointed a CBE in the December 2006 New Year's Honours List. In June 2007 he was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws at a ceremony celebrating the tercentenary of Edinburgh University's School of Law.

Bibliography

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series

*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"

Professor Dr. von Igelfeld Entertainments

*2003 "Portuguese Irregular Verbs"
*2003 "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs"
*2003 "At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances"

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 Comforts of a Muddy Saturday"

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"

Other novels

*2008 "Corduroy Mansions" (published online daily in serial form at [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/exclusions/alexandermccallsmith/nosplit/alexandermccallsmith.xml telegraph.co.uk] ; scheduled for printing as a book in 2009)

hort story collections

*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 books

*1984 "The Perfect Hamburger"
*1988 "Alix and the Tigers"
*1990 "The Tin Dog"
*1991 "Calculator Annie"
*1991 "The Popcorn Pirates"
*1992 "Akimbo and the Lions"
*1992 "The Doughnut Ring"
*1993 "Akimbo and the Crocodile Man"
*1994 "Paddy and the Ratcatcher"
*1995 "The Muscle Machine"
*1996 "The Bubblegum Tree"
*1997 "Bursting Balloons Mystery"
*1997 "The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean"
*1999 "Chocolate Money Mystery"
*2000 "Teacher Trouble"
*2005 "Akimbo and the Elephants"
*2006 "Dream Angus"
*2006 "Akimbo and the Snakes"
*2008 "Akimbo and the Baboons"

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: a seventh, by Mason and Graeme Laurie, was published in 2006. McCall Smith contributed to all six previous editions.)
*1987 "Butterworths Medico-Legal Encyclopaedia" (with J Kenyon Mason)
*1990 "Family Rights: Family Law and Medical Advances" (with Elaine Sutherland)
*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)

References

External links

* [http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/staff/alexandermccallsmith_58.aspx Professor Alexander McCall Smith's home page at the Law School, University of Edinburgh]
* [http://www.birlinn.co.uk/author/details/Alexander-McCall-Smith-48/ Author's home page at publishers Polygon & Birlinn Limited]
* [http://www.birlinn.co.uk/AlexanderMcCallSmith/index.html The author introduces Corduroy Mansions at publishers Polygon & Birlinn Limited]
* [http://www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk/Pages/Home.aspx Author's homepage at UK publishers Little, Brown]
* [http://www.randomhouse.com/features/mccallsmith/ Author's homepage at publishers Random House]
* [http://polygon.birlinn.co.uk/author/details/Alexander-McCall-Smith-48/Professor Alexander McCall Smith's profile page at publishers Polygon]
* (British Council)
* [http://www.powells.com/authors/smith.html Interview with the author at Powell's City of Books, 6 May 2004]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/desertislanddiscs_20050619.shtml Favourite music, on "Desert Island Discs", BBC Radio 4, 19 June 2005]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/top10s/top10/0,,1098764,00.html Alexander McCall Smith's favourite humorous books] in The Guardian
* [http://living.scotsman.com/alexandermccallsmith/McCall-Smith-comes-to-scotsmancom.2781510.jp The Scotsman podcasts] : Alexander McCall Smith reads from the "Scotland Street" series.
* [http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/stories/the-lives-of-scottish-saints The Lives of the Scottish Saints] , a short story by Alexander McCall Smith on [http://www.scottishbooktrust.com Scottish Book Trust website]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/exclusions/alexandermccallsmith/nosplit/alexandermccallsmith.xml Corduroy Mansions @ Telegraph.co.uk] , Alexander McCall Smith is writing his first ever online novel exclusively for Telegraph.co.uk.