Alexander (Sandy) McCall Smith


1948 -

Prodigious author and academic lawyer. Born in Zimbabwe, McCall Smith was schooled in Bulawayo but moved to Scotland to attend University and settled in Edinburgh.

McCall Smith has written a popular series of detective novels based on the cases of Mma Ramotswe, a female private investigator in Botswana. He has also produced several children's novels, including The Perfect Hamburger and Children of Wax.

Until he took early retirement in 2005 to concentrate on his writing, he was Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh, where he researched legal responsibility and ethical issues of medical practice. In this regard, McCall Smith served as Deputy Chair of the Human Genetics Commission and with the Bio-ethics Commission of UNESCO. His academic books include The Criminal Law of Botswana and the Forensic Aspects of Sleep.

With his wife, McCall Smith was founder of the Really Terrible Orchestra in Edinburgh, intended as an outlet for enthusiastic amateur musicians, but which has now gained an international recognition.

He was awarded a CBE for services to literature in the New Year Honours list of 2007 and an honorary degree from the University of Aberdeen in 2006.


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