Batswana writers get McCall-Smith tips

The Scot, who has sold millions of copies worldwide, said that before he became a well-known writer, he wrote children's books on a part-time basis.
He disclosed that he started the Mma Ramotswe Series by accident.

"I wrote what I thought would be a short story, but I ended up liking the Mma Ramotswe character so much and off she went and became a series," he said.
The series made the Scot a household name, but the author explains that although the Mma Ramotswe books are regarded as detective books, they are not 'real' detective books.