About Alexander McCall Smith
Sir Alexander “Sandy” McCall Smith, born and raised in Southern Rhodesia, became a Scottish legal scholar and later a popular fiction author. He was a Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and an expert on medical law and bioethics, serving on British and international committees. His novels have sold over 40 million copies in English by 2010 and are translated into 46 languages. The name “McCall” comes from his great‑great‑grandmother Bethea McCall, who married James Smith at Glencairn, Dumfries‑shire, in 1833.
Awards & Honors
Knight Bachelor
Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize
Best Crime Novel in Swedish Translation
Dagger in the Library
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
honorary doctor of the University of Edinburgh
Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences
Show 2 more awards
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
honorary doctorate from the University of Parma
![“[...] Look at the way people try to make points of contact with others when they meet. Look at the way you instinctively try to establish whether somebody you meet for the first time knows somebody you know. Watch people do it. I'm from such and such place. Oh yes? So you know So-and-So? Yes! And…” quote by Alexander McCall Smith](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/bcb/alexander-mccall-smith-372_first-time_look-at-the-way-people-try-to-make-point_3123627.jpg)
