Hit Scottish author hits ‘prolific spell’ during lockdown with SIX books
SCOTS author Alexander McCall Smith reckons he writes five novels a year – but readily admits he does have a tendency to lose count of them.
During lockdown, this most hardworking of writers has been as busy as ever with no fewer than six new books coming out this year – definitely.
Since coming to prominence with The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series set in Botswana, he’s written more than 60 books – he’s again not sure of the exact number – and sold more than 40 million, translated into 46 languages, making him one of the world’s most prolific and popular authors.
“I probably write five novels every year but I lose track,” said Mr McCall Smith. “I do take great pleasure in writing and feel anxious in a day when I’ve written nothing. I get up at 3am or 4am to write for a few hours before going back to bed. My target is around 3,000 words day, but I’ve recently slowed down from 4,000.
“I break all the rules – I don’t have elaborate plans written on Post-it Notes on the wall, only notebooks, and my books emerge fully ready. I don’t really do much rewriting.”
His bestselling books include the 44 Scotland Street novels, the Isabel Dalhousie novels, The Detective Varg novels and the Von Igelfeld series, along with standalone novels, children’s books, and a poetry collection.
But he still recalls the surprise success of his first full-length novel, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, published in 1998 and featuring the redoubtable Mma Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s leading, and only, female private detective and inspired by the country he first visited in 1981 to co-found the law school at the University of Botswana. The president of Botswana honoured him for services to the country through literature, and he was made a CBE and has received numerous literary awards and 12 honorary doctorates.
Good reviews
“THE first No. 1 novel, published by Polygon, then a small publisher owned by Edinburgh University, had a print run of 1,500. I thought that would be it, but it received generous reviews and I was asked to write a sequel. Four were published by Polygon and by Columbia University press in the US,” said Mr McCall Smith, 72, who was born in Bulawayo, Rhodesia, in present-day Zimbabwe.
“Suddenly the books started to take off through word of mouth and then The New York Times published a full-page article on the first four and the series was picked up by Random House in the US and Little,
Brown in London. I was obviously pleased, but I was pretty overwhelmed.”
This literary success led to early retirement from his post as professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, where he is now Emeritus Professor, and embark on a full-time writing career. He completed the 22nd in the No. 1 series during this last 12 months of lockdowns, which saw him spending even more time in his book-lined study in the home he shares with his wife Elizabeth in Merchiston, Edinburgh, where they raised their two daughters, both now doctors.
“I’ve had more time to write and think. When the first lockdown happened, I was reading a couple of books on monasticism and how it gives you time to reflect, which we have all had this year.
“I usually travel a great deal to literary events all over the world, from India to the US and Australia, so it was a relief not to be forever in airports and hotel rooms. I have enjoyed staying in one place.
“But what I miss is being able to have a cup of coffee with friends in a coffee shop. We can go out and walk but it’s not the same as mixing with friends. It’s important for an author to be sociable and observe humanity. I love eavesdropping but it’s frustrating when I’m out on a bike ride with my wife and can only catch part of a conversation. The last one I heard was between two men walking: ‘... and do you know, she walked straight out.’ ‘Oh, yeah?’ ‘She left three weeks ago. I apologised but …’”
Far from lonely
LIKE the rest of us, Mr McCall Smith – known affectionately as Sandy to his friends – has been more isolated than usual of late, but he’s far from lonely as he inhabits an imaginary world populated by a cast of eccentric characters.
Even McCall Smith’s detective series set in Sweden, which he calls Scandi Blanc, is a brighter version of the unrelenting bleakness and violence of the Scandi noir genre.
“Detective Ulf Varg – two words for wolf in Danish and Swedish – works in the Department of Serious Crimes in Malmo but his crimes are minor, gentle things,” said McCall Smith, a jovial man fond of a joke and quick to laugh.
And, unlike the harsh, wintry landscape inhabited by the likes of The Killing’s grim-faced Sarah Lund and The Bridge’s troubled Saga Horén and Martin Rohde, McCall Smith’s detective “Wolf Wolf” is “a rather nice man with a hearing-impaired, lip-reading dog” who unravels cosy mysteries in the cheerful setting of bright and sunny Swedish summers.
“I, like most people, want to be uplifted and presented with a vision of the world that has some hope in it. I believe in being positive – what’s the point of being negative? It doesn’t improve life.
“I don’t want to be a Pollyanna claiming everything is wonderful, but we should leave room in life for the positive and uplifting.”
I break all the rules – I don’t have elaborate plans written on Post-it notes on walls, only notebooks, and my books emerge fully ready
MINISTERS are facing a new legal clash with fishermen who say they face losing their livelihoods after being banned from an area of Scotland to protect a critically endangered species of fish.
Creel fishermen and scallop divers are furious that a blanket fishing ban has been imposed over one of the largest nesting sites for the flapper skate ever found in the Inner Sound off Skye despite the Scottish Government’s nature agency saying they were either low or zero threat.
The move has caused even more anger because it was the same fishermen who raised concerns for the flapper skate in the area and the impact that might be caused by more invasive dredging or trawling in the area.
It was announced that the area has been given marine protected area (MPA) status by the Scottish Government.
It will come into force on Wednesday and prohibit some activities such as fishing, diving and construction.
NatureScot said the Skye habitat was of “national importance for the species”.
But its advice to its sister Scottish Government agency Marine Scotland, seen by The Herald on Sunday states that the “severe” risk came from trawling and dredging in the area.
Some have said the blanket ban “looked like payback” after the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation (SCFF) took ministers to court over failings over a would-be no-trawling test and won.
‘Right to trawl’
IN a landmark legal judgment, the SCFF won a court challenge over the “right to trawl” in Scotland’s inshore waters which was expected to have a marked bearing in fishing rights across the country.
But the newest Court of Session and High Court judge Lady Poole ruled in the SCFF’s favour, saying it was entitled to expect the plan is “properly” reconsidered “with an open mind”.
Alistair Sinclair, national co-ordinator of the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation said legal action discussions were being held, adding: “This looks like payback for having the cheek to take the Government to court. We were instrumental in finding the site and are now being punished for doing so.
“Jobs will go with huge impacts on coastal communities,and future opportunities for employment for our young folk will disappear with entire communities being affected.”
Robert Younger, solicitor with Fish Legal, which supported the creel fishermen’s case against ministers, added: “Having already taken the Scottish Government to court over their rejection of the Inner Sound sustainable fishing pilot we will again be closely assessing our legal options to challenge this unnecessary and prejudicial scallop diving ban.”
Dr Suzanne Henderson, NatureScot marine ecosystems manager, told Chris Rickard of Shark and Skate Citizen Science Scotland who helped discover the flapper skate eggs in an email seen by The Herald on Sunday that they had not advised that there was any threat from diving of any sort.
“Creel fishing was considered in more detail but our assessment concluded that the risks from this activity were low,” she said.
Endangered
THE flapper skate has been listed as critically endangered since 2006 as a result of overfishing.
The Skye MPA designation will initially be in place for 12 months.
The Scottish Government said any proposals to extend the designation for longer would be subject to a “full stakeholder engagement process, public consultation and impact assessments”.
But NatureScot has said it
anticipates being able to complete assessment work and provide final advice to support consideration of permanent protection of the egg-laying habitat in the Inner Sound by the end of June 2022.
Alastair Philp, deputy chairman of the North West Inshore Fisheries Group, said there were 35 full-time creel boats and around four scallop dive boats that fish the Sound – and warned the move by ministers could put boats out of business.
He said: After a two-year battle by local fishermen and conservation groups to ensure this site gets protected from dredging and trawling, we now find ourselves questioning as to what motivated the Scottish Government to disregard the advice they received regarding both the extent of the site and also those activities that required to be excluded to facilitate the management objectives.
“We have written to the Fisheries Minister for an explanation, though we suspect this is just more of the same old marginalising of low-impact fisheries like creel and dive in favour of the interests of wider industrial fisheries interests.
“Whatever the motivation we very much doubt the Government are acting in the wider public interest.”
Protection
OTHER areas of sea off Scotland’s coast are covered by MPSs. The designation aims to protect habitats from marine industry projects and some types of fishing.
The Scottish Government did not respond to the fishermen’s criticisms. Instead, it pointed to comments Rural Affairs Minister Ben Macpherson made about the MPA.
He said: “The flapper skate, which was once abundant in our seas, is now only found in the northern area of the North Sea and off Scotland’s north-west coast. “The designation of this new Marine Protected Area will allow further information to be gathered to inform permanent proposals and will safeguard an area of vital importance to this critically endangered species. This will support conservation efforts to help it recover back to a healthy status in Scottish waters.”
This looks like payback for having the cheek to take the Government to court. We were instrumental in finding the site and are punished