Date Published: 20th March 2024
‘Sandy’ revisits home of Precious Ramotswe
Alexander McCall Smith is back in Botswana for the first time since the pandemic halted his annual visits. He is delighted to be back.
Book 25 in the multi-million copy bestselling and perennially adored No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is on its way
Every year, Alexander (or Sandy) enjoys a three or four month conversation with his friend, the fictional Precious Ramotswe and her community of characters in Botswana as he creates the next book in The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. At present, he is working on the 25th volume in the series with the superb title, The Great Hippopotamus Hotel. He is writing part of the book during his visit to Botswana.
So far, this trip has taken him to Gaborone Book Festival, he has launched a writing prize and an art prize, opened a library in a school, visited the SOS Children’s Home, The Space Art Gallery and met up with many of the people he so admires in Botswana.
Alexander visited the Space Gallery in Botswana, to present the first No.1 Art Award in the country. He met with Atang Arnold – the founder of The Space Botswana.
