Malla Nunn
A brief but revealing Q&A with Malla Nunn, author of A Beautiful Place to Die, the first in a new series set in 1950s South Africa starring Detective Emmanuel Cooper.
Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo and Yoko Tanaka, the illustrator of The Magician's Elephant, discuss the writing and illustrating of the book. In a separate Q&A, Kate discusses The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.
Brigid Pasulka
Brigid Pasulka explains why she wrote her first novel, A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True, which is set in Poland during World War II, and in Kraków 50 years later.
Alexander McCall Smith began the now highly successful 'No 1 Ladies Detective
Agency' series in 1996, after being inspired by the sight of a 'traditionally
built' Botswanan lady chasing down a chicken for a meal. The first book in
the series - 'The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency' was published in the UK
in 1998 but didn't arrive in the USA until 2001.
Series Order
1. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
2. Tears of The Giraffe
3. Morality For Beautiful Girls
4. The Kalahari Typing School For Men
5. The Full Cupboard of Life
6. In The Company of Cheerful Ladies
7. Blue Shoes and Happiness
8. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
9. The Miracle at Speedy Motors
10. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
Known to his friends as Sandy, McCall Smith describes the Botswanans as
'genuinely courteous people' He knows Botswana well as he grew up there
and also spent several years on the law faculty of the University of Botswana;
his volume on the legal system of Botswana (The Criminal Law of Botswana )remains
the definitive and in fact, only book on the subject.
In 2004 he published the first in a new series, 'The Sunday Philosophy Club' featuring
Isabel Dalhousie, a Scottish-American professor of moral philosophy. The second in the series, Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, was published in 2005; The Right Attitude To Rain followed in 2006 and The Careful Use of Compliments in 2007.
When asked what ties the two series together he says that he believes it to be
'the comfort of the settings - not too cozy, but interesting and comfortable
enough that you get caught up in the worlds of Mma. Ramotswe and
Isabel'.
In addition to all his other projects, McCall Smith also finds time to play in
the Really Terrible Orchestra
and writes a daily column for The Scotsman newspaper titled 44 Scotland
Street - writing over 110,000 words in 6 months! Television and movie
rights based on the series have recently been sold to Working Title Films (who
produced Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City). The series have
been published in 3 separate books to date: 44 Scotland Street, Espresso
Tales and Love Over Scotland.
In 2006 he, along with two other prominent Edinburgh authors (Ian Rankin and
Irvin Welsh), published a series of short stories titled One City, with
the proceeds going to the Edinburgh based charity, One City.
Up until 2004 he juggled his career as a Professor of Medical Law, with his
writing (in addition to the Mma Ramotswe and Isabel Dalhousie books, he has
written over fifty other books ranging from specialist titles such as Forensic Aspects of Sleep (the only book on the subject) to
The Perfect Hamburger (a children's novel) and Portuguese Irregular Verbs (a collection of stories about eccentric German professors).
However, in late 2004 he took a 3 year leave from his academic position in order
to focus on writing and, to the best of our knowledge, has not returned.
For an extremely comprehensive bibliography of this prolific author, listing UK and USA publication dates, we recommend fantasticfiction.co.uk Copyright BookBrowse.com 2008
This biography was last updated on 06/01/2009.
A note about the biographies
We try to keep BookBrowse's biographies both up to date and accurate. However, with over 1,500 lives to keep track of it's inevitable that
some won't be as current or as complete as we would like. So, please help us - if the information about a particular author is out of date,
inaccurate or simply very short, and you know of a more complete source, please let us know. Authors and those connected with authors:
If you wish to make changes to your bio, please send your complete biography as you would like it displayed so that we replace the old with the new.
A spellbinding novel that spans the Victorian era through the World War I years, and centers around a famous children's book author and the passions, betrayals, and secrets that tear apart the people she loves.
A novel on the anxiety and disconnection of post-9/11 America, on the insidiousness of racism, the blind-sidedness of war, and the recklessness thrust on others in the name of love.
Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle was "nothing short of spectacular" (Entertainment Weekly). Now, in Half Broke Horses, she brings us the story of her grandmother, told in a first-person voice that is authentic, irresistible, and triumphant.
A gripping and fascinating adventure of one young girl's obsession with knowing who her parents really were/are. The delving into the idea of ...
read more
I borrowed Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell from the library, hoping it would be a lively story of two feuding wizards. Instead, the author spends ...
read more
Borders to close 200 Waldenbooks outlets(Nov 06 2009) As Barnes & Noble prepares to close all but two of their B. Dalton mall stores by January 2010, Borders announced that they will close about 200 of the...
Full Story
NPR & ABA Partner to Share Book Coverage(Nov 05 2009) In a joining of like minds, NPR and ABA have partnered to provide thoughtful bestsellers and unique book coverage to readers, both on NPR.org and...
Full Story
RSS feed
