Date Published: 5th June 2023

‘His greeting is as warm and welcoming as the morning Kalahari sun’

Sally McDonald, Sunday Post

A few weeks ago, super-fan Sally McDonald sat down with Alexander McCall Smith to talk about the longevity of his much loved series, The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and his annual love letter to Botswana. The resulting interview was published this weekend in The Sunday Post newspaper and celebrates the 25th anniversary of publication of the very first book in the series which is now much loved throughout the world.

Since first publication in 1998, more than 25 million copies of these books have been sold, in 46 languages (plus English!). Alexander’s readership spans the globe and he travels great distances to meet readers and to introduce them to Botswana. Already this year he has visited Iceland, Dubai and Australia as well as meeting readers at literary festivals in the UK.

Alexander continues to visit the country nearly every year, with the obvious exceptions of the Covid pandemic years. He grew up in Africa and first visited Botswana as a young man, going back in later year to help set up the school of law at their University. He is a great admirer of the country and the people and all that they have achieved since independence.

You can read the interview on the Sunday Post website.