Alexander McCall Smith

Well, I'd say all of us are a combination of moods and emotions. In my day to day life I don't go around skipping, but at times one can feel sheer exhilarating joy at the world. ”

But you cannot expect every writer to dwell on human suffering. I think my books do deal with grave issues. People who say they are too positive probably haven't read them. ”

My Botswana books are positive, and I've never really sought to deny that. They are positive. They present a very positive picture of the country. And I think that that is perfectly defensible given that there is so much written about Africa which is entirely negative. ”

I've always had a creative urge and I get immense satisfaction from creating something because it feels like I'm making sense of the world and imposing order on it. ”

I've also long since realized that the way to really engage children is to give out prizes; it's amazing how it concentrates their minds. ”

I have three older sisters, so we were a reasonably large family and, in general, a happy one. ”

You do not have to ladle on the impasto to make a point about human frailty or ambitions. ”

Fiction is able to encompass books that are bleak and which dwell on the manifold and terrible problems of our times. But I don't think that all books need to have that particular focus. ”

Writers obviously have to bear witness to the harsh face of the age. ”

It's through the small things that we develop our moral imagination, so that we can understand the sufferings of others. ”