Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander McCall Smith
R. Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE, is a British 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...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth24 August 1948
paint painter expected
Painters aren't expected to paint bleak pictures, are they?
suffering-of-others imagination moral
It's through the small things that we develop our moral imagination, so that we can understand the sufferings of others.
children giving long
I've also long since realized that the way to really engage children is to give out prizes; it's amazing how it concentrates their minds.
moved music opera people
The point of opera is that people are moved by the emotions and music.
country intimacy million people related tend
There is this intimacy still in Botswana. It's a country of just under two million people, and there's this sense of connectedness, in that people tend to be related to one another.
hook novels serial
Serial novels have an unexpected effect; they hook the writer as well as the reader.
books constant country fed great lives paint people picture pleased portray positive poverty problems puts reporting success welcome
I think people in Botswana are pleased that my books paint a positive picture of their lives and portray the country as being very special. They've made a great success of their country, and the people are fed up with the constant reporting of only the problems and poverty of the continent. They welcome something which puts the positive side.
life local
The local community is very important in one's life; the feelings of identification with a place and people.
life smaller
If you lose sight of the smaller accomplishments, you end up with an imbalance in your life.
accomplish books fortunate four keeping life personal strict time
I write four books a year. I'm very fortunate that I write quickly; around 3,500 words a day. Being strict about delineating my writing time and personal life, as well as keeping distractions at bay, is the only way I can accomplish this.
books deny entirely given perfectly picture positive present sought written
My Botswana books are positive, and I've never really sought to deny that. They are positive. They present a very positive picture of the country. And I think that that is perfectly defensible given that there is so much written about Africa which is entirely negative.
certainly country entirely good high paint painting picture pretended realistic regard
I've certainly always had a very high regard for Botswana and so I paint a very good picture of the country and I've never pretended to be painting an entirely realistic picture.
audiences inflict terrible
I would never inflict my bassoon on anybody really other than the long suffering audiences that come to the concerts of The Really Terrible Orchestra; which actually is really terrible.
books doubted letters meant people single
Every single day, I get letters - very moving, overwhelming letters - testifying how much my books have meant to people in times of crisis in their lives, when they were very ill, say. If I ever doubted that writing could play an important part in people's lives, I don't doubt that now.