Meet the Author

Alexander McCall Smith. Photo by Tim Duncan

I thought it would be interesting to include some interviews with Alexander McCall Smith. This first one is very interesting, in it he talks about his writing habits and you can see the rooms he uses.

Click here to watch


This is a summary of his biography and here is his wikipedia entry, which includes his impressive bibliography.

Here he talks about seeing someone who gave him the idea of writing about a woman in Botswana

This is another short clip in which he talks about the main character, Mma Ramotswe

Here is a short report in which Alexander McCall Smith visits Botswana and talks about Mma Ramotswe and his portrayal of Botswana.

Here  are some excerpts from a World Book Night interview in 2013

This is a blog about all things AMS - Alexander McCall Smith that is.

I realise the selection here is rather eclectic - there's so much to choose from! 

Dumela mma

In our first meeting discussing No 1 we certainly had some difficulty getting our tongues round unfamiliar names and words. I was lucky to find these links with recordings. I think it would be great to listen to them  and get a feel for the sound of Tswana. I also suggested that watching the television adaptation of No 1 might help us with pronunciation. More on the series later

Tswana information page.

Listen  to these phrases.

These are really clear to listen to.


The following comes from the Botswana-UPenn Partnership webpage. I've included the first page as it answers some of our questions about pronunciation. 

The full document is here

Botswana-UPenn Partnership 

Basic Setswana 

Setswana (Tswana) is a Bantu language and the national and majority language of 

Botswana; although the official language of government in Botswana is English. In 

addition to Botswana, there are also Setswana speakers in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and 

Namibia, comprising about 4 million Setswana speakers worldwide. 

Tips on Pronunciation 

The basic key differences from English are: 

• “G’s” are generally pronounced as “h’s” in Setswana. (Officially known as a 

voiceless velar frictave.) 

• The final “e” in Setswana words or names is not silent as is the case in English, but is 

pronounced as a long “e”. 

• People typically roll their “r’s” in Botswana. 

Therefore, “Gaborone” is phonetically written as “Hahborrronee.” 

The following information is more detailed pronunciation keys for the curious, but don’t 

get hung up on this in the beginning. 

In Setswana, the vowels are pronounced as in the following English words: 

• 'a' as in 'car' 

• 'e' as in 'let' 

• 'i' as in 'meet' 

• 'o' as in 'go' 

• 'u' as in 'school' 

There are also a few combinations of consonants which are pronounced very 

differently from English: 

• 'g' = an 'h' sound deep in your throat, like the end of "loch" 

• 'kg' = k + an 'h' sound deep in your throat 

• 'kh' = k + some air 

• 'ph' = p + some air 

• 'th' = t + some air (NOT like English "th") 

• 'ny' = think of isolating the 'ny' in 'canyon' 

• 'tl' = think of isolating the 'tl' in 'Atlanta' 

• 'tlh' = 'tl' + some air 

• 'ts' - think of isolating the 'ts' in 'itself' 

• 'tsh' = 'ts' + some air 

• 'nts' = n + 'ts' sound 

• 'š' = sh 

Finally this is a  link to the brilliant Learning Setswana website, made by Peace Corps Botswana

Go siame

&

Ke tla go bona

sights and sounds

Well, I thought it would be interesting and useful to find out about some of the cultural, geographical and zoological references mentioned in No 1. 

Straight away, on the first page we have a reference:

"Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of Kgale Hill."

Kgale Hill 1 by Athena Lao

Kgale Hill 2 by Athena Lao

Kgale Hill - this is located in Garbone and means in Setswana The Place that Dried Up, it's also known as The Sleeping Giant. It's 1,287 metres high.

Botswana - in southern Africa, it boarders 5 countries: Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia. Mma Ramotswe also refers to its former name Bechuanaland Protectorate, as it was known before it became independent from the British Commonwealth. Here is the Wikipedia entry for Botswana.

A Motswana is either a citizen of Botswana of any ethnic background, or someone from the Tswana ethnic group of southern Africa.

Gaborone - capital of Botswana, Ladies no 1 Detective Agency is based here. This is the Wikipedia entry. 

"To the front, an acacia tree, the thorn tree which dots the wide edges of the Kalahari; the great white thorns, a warning; the olivegrey leaves by contrast, so delicate."

There are over 700 species of the acacia in Africa...

Photo by Birdman1'White-browed Sparrow-Weaver nests in an acacia tree in Okovango Delta, Botswana.'

Acacia Thorns by Angela Sevin

"In its branches, in the late afternoon, or in the cool of the early morning, one might see a Go-Away Bird, or hear it, rather."

Grey Go-away-bird (Corythaixoides concolor), Okonjima/Namibia by Hans Stieglitz

"...there were just the acacia trees, and the river-bed in the distance, and the Kalahari over there, so close."

Here is a link to the wikipedia page on the Kalahari.

The Kalahari Desert (shown in red) and the surrounding Kalahari Basin (in orange) by Jc86035

"He had owned a big herd...including the white Brahmin bulls whose grandparents he had bred himself..."

Brahmin Bull by José Reynaldo da Fonseca

Brahmin cattle are extremely heat tolerant and live longer than other breeds. 

Listen to Radio Botswana, where Mma Ramotswe was interviewed prior to setting up her agency.

Bush tea - Rooibos tea, Mma Ramotswe's regular brew for herself and clients. You might like to try this brand or this one.

Biltong - spiced, dried meat.

Sliced Beef Biltong photo by  Delia du Plessis

Maun - Happy Bapetsi, Mma Ramotswe's first client is from this, the 'tourist capital' of Botswana. Here is the Wikipedia link.

Bulawayo - Happy's Daddy went to work here, the second largest city in Zimbabwe.

Lobatse - the small town where Happy's cuckoo Daddy really lives.

Mahalapye - Mma Ramotswe's father, Obed, is from here.

 Mahalapye by pmecologic

Mochudi - Obed goes to live there as his mother's people are from there.