Date Published: 10th May 2017
Alexander McCall Smith — writer and creator of The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency — has received a major award, (9 May 2017).
The President, The Board of Governors, and The Literary Arts Committee of The National Arts Club of America presented The Medal of Honor for Achievement in Literature to Alexander McCall Smith at an Award Ceremony last night. The event was held at the home of The National Arts Club in New York City. Alexander is thrilled that his work has been recognised with such a prestigious award.
Alexander commented, “I am honoured and delighted to receive this award. I have always very much valued my American readers and I am very touched that the National Arts Club has accorded me this honour.”
Past recipients of this award include most of the major literary figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since 1968, recipients have included:
1968 Louis Auchincloss 1969 WH Auden 1970 SJ Perelman 1971 Ada Louise Huxtable 1972 Norman Cousins 1973 Anthony Burgess 1974 Eudora Welty 1975 Tennessee Williams 1976 Norman Mailer 1978 Saul Bellow 1979 Allen Ginsberg 1980 Isaac Bashevis Singer 1981 Leon Edel 1982 Barbara Tuchman 1983 James Laughlin 1984 John Updike 1985 Joseph Campbell 1986 Marguerite Yourcenar 1987 Robertson Davies 1988 Carlos Fuentes 1989 James Merrill 1990 Iris Murdoch 1991 Philip Roth 1992 Arthur Miller |
| 1993 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1994 Richard Wilbur 1995 William Styron 1996 E.L. Doctorow 1997 Margaret Atwood 1998 Grace Paley 1999 Toni Morrison 2000 Nadine Gordimer 2001 Tom Wolfe 2002 Edna O’Brien 2003 Sir Tom Stoppard 2004 Shirley Hazzard 2005 Alice Munro 2006 P.D. James 2007 Chinua Achebe 2008 Don DeLillo 2009 Joyce Carol Oates 2010 David McCullough 2011 Edward Albee 2012 Martin Amis 2013 Salman Rushdie 2014 John Ashbery 2015 Paul Auster 2016 Jane Smiley |
The National Arts Club was founded in 1898 by author and poet Charles De Kay, the literary and art critic for The New York Times. He together with a group of distinguished artists and patrons conceived of a gathering place to welcome artists of all genres as well as art lovers and patrons. At the turn of the 20th century American artists began to look to their own country rather than to Europe for inspiration, and the American art world was alive with energy. The newly-formed National Arts Club took residence in a mansion on 34th Street. American art had a new home. The National Arts Club continues its tradition of inclusivity by welcoming all artists. The mission of The National Arts Club is to stimulate, foster, and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts.
Edinburgh based writer, Alexander McCall Smith is best known for his No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series of books, set in Botswana. More than 20 million copies of these books have been sold in English language editions and the books have been translated into 46 languages around the world. There have been screen and radio adaptations of this much loved series as well as stage plays. In addition, Alexander has written the much loved 44 Scotland Street series set in Edinburgh. This series appears first in daily chunks in the Scotsman newspaper before being gathered into book editions. This is now the longest serial novel in the world. Alexander also writes the Isabel Dalhousie series, two popular children’s series and a number of stand alone and non-fiction titles.