Dear Friends and Neighbors,
By now we hope you know that we will be hosting Alexander McCall Smith this Saturday at 7pm.
I am writing to encourage you to come meet this remarkable, most charming man who, within a few years of launching the No. 1 Ladies' Detective series in 1990, had captured the affection and admiration of readers the world over.
Writing is actually something he came to after a very successful career teaching law. Born in Bulawayo, in what was then Southern Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe, he was educated at the Christian Brothers College before moving to Scotland to study law at the University of Edinburgh, where he received his Ph.D. He subsequently taught at Queen’s University Belfast, University of Botswana, and University of Edinburgh.
He is the former chairman of the British Medical Journal Ethics Committee (until 2002), the former vice-chairman of the Human Genetics Commission of the United Kingdom, and a former member of the International Bioethics Commission of UNESCO. After achieving success as a writer, he gave up these commitments.
He has written more than 60 books, including The Charming Quirks of Others, which is the seventh title in the Isabel Dalhousie series, and which he will be reading from on Saturday night.
The fact that Random House is sending Alexander McCall Smith to read at BookShop West Portal is actually a tribute to the support which our community has given our store. By attending these readings and buying books at these events, you are giving a clear signal to the publishing community that they should continue to tour authors, and specifically that they should send them to neighborhood, independent stores, where you can interact with them in an intimate setting.
Thanks for your continued support.
We hope to see you Saturday.
Neal Sofman
BookShop West Portal
PS:
We have priced The Charming Quirks of Others at 20% OFF.
We recommend that you purchase books when you first arrive at the store to reduce waiting after the reading. Seating will be on a first come basis.
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