{"name": "Alexander McCall Smith", "bio": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "Alexander McCall Smith, often referred to as \u2018Sandy\u2019,  is one of the world\u2019s most prolific and best-loved authors. For many years he was a professor of Medical Law and worked in universities in the UK and abroad before turning his hand to writing fiction. He has written and contributed to more than 100 books including specialist academic titles, short story collections, and a number of immensely popular children\u2019s books. His first book, The White Hippo\u2014a children\u2019s book, was published by Hamish Hamilton in 1980.\r\n\r\nBut it wasn\u2019t until the publication of the highly successful The No. 1 Ladies\u2019 Detective Agency series that Alexander became a household name. The series has now sold over twenty million copies in the English language alone, and since the books took off, he has devoted his time to writing.\r\n\r\nHis various series of books have been translated into forty-six languages and become bestsellers throughout the world. These include the popular 44 Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in the Scotsman newspaper and now the longest-running serial novel in the world; the Isabel Dalhousie novels, and the von Igelfeld series. He is also the author of the Corduroy Mansions series, which started life as an engaging cross-media serial written for the Telegraph online.\r\n\r\nIn addition to these series, Alexander has written a number of stand-alone novels, including The Forever Girl, Fatty O\u2019Leary\u2019s Dinner Party, My Italian Bulldozer, The Second Worst Restaurant in France, Chance Developments and Pianos and Flowers.\r\n\r\nEarlier stand alone books include Trains and Lovers: A Heart\u2019s Journey; La\u2019s Orchestra Saves the World; and Emma\u2014a reworking of the classic Jane Austen novel.\r\n\r\nHe has also authored many non-fiction titles, the latest of which are A Work of Beauty: Alexander McCall Smith\u2019s Edinburgh and What W.H. Auden Can Do For You.\r\n\r\nRecently Alexander has written a new children\u2019s series\u2014The School Ship Tobermory\u2014and we now have four books in the series. This increases the number of children\u2019s books he has written to more than thirty.\r\n\r\nAlexander has received numerous awards for his writing and holds twelve honorary doctorates from universities in Europe and North America. In 2007 he received a CBE for services to literature and in 2011 was honoured by the President of Botswana for services through literature to the country. In 2015 he received the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction and in 2017 The National Arts Club of America\u2014Medal of Honor for Achievement in Literature."}, "birth_date": "1948", "links": [{"title": "Wikipedia", "url": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_McCall_Smith", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"url": "https://www.powells.com/blog/interviews/red-bush-tea-with-alexander-mccall-smith-by-dave/", "title": "Powell's Red Bush Tea with Alexander McCall Smith", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Author's Web Site", "url": "https://www.alexandermccallsmith.com//www.alexandermccallsmith.com/", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"url": "https://www.alexandermccallsmith.com", "title": "Author's web site", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}], "remote_ids": {"isni": "0000000114508989", "viaf": "86227797", "wikidata": "Q364901", "bookbrainz": "70f1e220-b73a-4575-b5d2-79eb55dc1acc", "musicbrainz": "9d61a027-677f-4c5a-a4bf-07be0000b9ec", "goodreads": "4738", "imdb": "nm1676691", "lc_naf": "n86825855", "librarything": "smithalexandermccall", "opac_sbn": "TO0V163025"}, "alternate_names": ["Alexander Mccall Smith", "ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH", "MCCALL SMITH, ALEXANDER, 1948-", "McCall Smith Alexander", "Alexander McCall-Smith", "R. A. McCall Smith", "Alexander McCa Smith", "A McCall Smith", "mccall-smith-alexander", "Alexander McCall Smith", "Alexander McAll Smith", "Alexander M. Smith", "Alexander McCal Smith", "Alexander Mccall; Illustrated by Mcintosh, Iain Smith", "Alexander McCalF Smith", "Alexander Mc Call Smith", "Alexan Mccall-Smith", "alexandre McCall Smith"], "personal_name": "Alexander McCall Smith", "photos": [7321013], "type": {"key": "/type/author"}, "source_records": ["amazon:1449842763", "amazon:1705024718", "amazon:0349120994", "amazon:9944887919", "amazon:6053603953"], "key": "/authors/OL336504A", "latest_revision": 19, "revision": 19, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2008-04-01T03:28:50.625462"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2025-07-31T21:49:00.313315"}}