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Article: Alexander McCall Smith is a professor of medical law, a member of the Really Terrible Orchestra and author of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, which sold more than two million copies last year. Nick Smith met him at the RGS-IBG to discuss the ways in which Africa has inspired his writing.(In Conversation)(Interview)
- Article from:
- Geographical
- Article date:
- March 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Circle Publishing Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Why did you choose to set the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series in Botswana?
I spent my childhood in Zimbabwe, and in the early 1980s, I went to work in the University of Swaziland and I set a number of short stories there. I was then asked to go to Botswana to set up a law programme at the university and that was when I first became attached to the country. I set the series in Botswana because it's such an exceptional, striking country and it has such an effect on people.
Your characters ale very proud of their traditional ways. Are you recording an old Botswana before it disappears?
I think that many sub-Saharan African societies have their ...