Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith has written over 100 books, including academic titles, short story collections, and several immensely popular children's books. He is best known for his internationally acclaimed bestselling series ‘No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency,’ which has been translated into 46 languages. The most recent book in the series is In the Time of Five Pumpkins. The next book will be The Big Cats Dance Party (Penguin Random House, September 15, 2026). The series was adapted for film by HBO and for radio by BBC Radio 4. The Washington Post said, “In these increasingly fractious and febrile times, we perhaps need Mma Ramotswe more than ever.” 

McCall Smith’s bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series began with The Sunday Philosophy Club and continues with The Subtle Pleasures of Indiscretion which received a star review from Booklist. The books are currently in development as a television series with Synchronicity Films. Originally published as a newspaper serial the 44 Scotland Street series continues with the 19th book, The Prime of Bertie Pollock (Vintage, April 13, 2027).The Detective Varg series set in Sweden started with The Department of Sensitive Crimes, and the fourth book is The Discreet Charm of the Big Bad Wolf. The Professor Dr. von Igelfeld series started with Portuguese Irregular Verbs and the sixth book is The Lost Language of Oysters. Other series include Corduroy Mansions, the Paul Stuart series, and The Perfect Passion Company series.  

McCall Smith has written several solo novels including La’s Orchestra Saves the World, Trains and Lovers, The Forever Girl, Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party, The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse, The Pavilion in the Clouds, a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma, and The Winds from Further West. His new solo novel is The Private Side of Friendship. His short story collections include Chance Developments, Pianos and Flowers, Tiny Tales, a retelling of African Folktales titled The Girl Who Married a Lion, and most recently, The Private Life of Spies and The Exquisite Art of Getting Even. His book of poetry is In A Time of Distance. His non-fiction book about W. H. Auden is titled What W. H. Auden Can Do for You. He has also written children’s books, including the series The School Ship Tobermory, a mystery series about Precious Ramotswe as a young girl, the Akimbo series, the Harriet Bean series, the Max & Maddy series, and The Perfect Hamburger and other Delicious Stories. In addition to his novels, he wrote the libretto for The Okavango Macbeth and words for an album titled These Are The Hands. He also wrote the play Darwin, A Curious Mind which premiered in South Africa in 2025. In 2026 he launched a podcast called Positive Distraction.

McCall Smith was born in what is now Zimbabwe and was educated there and in Scotland. He became a law professor in Scotland, and it was in this role that he first returned to Africa to work in Botswana, where he helped set up a law school at the University of Botswana. For many years he was Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and has been a visiting professor at several other universities elsewhere, including in Italy and the United States. He is now a Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh.

In addition to his university work, McCall Smith was the vice-chairman of the UK Human Genetics Commission, the chairman of the British Medical Journal Ethics Committee, and a member of the International Bioethics Commission of UNESCO. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Crime Writers’ Association’s Dagger in the Library Award, the United Kingdom’s Author of The Year Award in 2004, the Saga Award for Wit, Sweden’s Martin Beck Award, and the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. In 2007 he received a CBE for his services to literature in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List. He holds 12 honorary doctorates from universities in Europe and North America. He has been awarded the Presidential Order of Merit by the President of Botswana, the Edinburgh Award and the Saltire Society Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2024 he was made a Knight Bachelor in the King’s Honours list for his service to literature, academia and charity.

Alexander McCall Smith currently lives in Edinburgh with his wife Elizabeth (an Edinburgh doctor). His hobbies include sailing and playing wind instruments, and he is the co-founder of an amateur orchestra called "The Really Terrible Orchestra" in which he plays the bassoon and his wife plays the horn.

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