Emirates LitFest 2026: ‘If we don’t have hope, what is the point?’ —Alexander McCall Smith on writing

The question sits quietly at the heart of Alexander McCall Smith’s work. Quaint, soft-spoken, and prolific, the writer is interested in kindness, he says it emphatically. Life, he believes, can be lived in two ways: holding on to resentment and negativity, or choosing, however imperfectly, positivity and hope. That philosophy defines not just the man, but the stories he continues to tell, as he shares ahead of his session at Emirates LitFest 2026.

McCall Smith is a firm believer in comfort reads. And perhaps comfort, he suggests, is what stops us from wandering too far down the darker alleys of our own minds. That calming, almost infectious optimism flows through his books and into his readers, forming the emotional core of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, his beloved series set in Botswana.

At its centre is Mma Ramotswe, a character defined less by sharp deduction than by deep humanity. “She’s a kind person,” McCall Smith says. “In real life, most people want to spend time with a character like this.” Set on the edge of Botswana’s Kalahari, her cases—lost husbands, fractured families, buried guilt—are inseparable from her own story of grief, resilience, and quiet hope. The series remains gentle, wise, and profoundly human.

Botswana, he explains, was never a random choice. “I’ve always loved Botswana. I was very taken by the people, their kindness and courteousness. And apart from that, I really admired the country.”

When it comes to the discipline of writing, McCall Smith is refreshingly practical. “I write for two hours in a day. Early in the morning, which is a good time, and I write very quickly. It varies. I don’t stop, once I start.” His notebooks are meticulously kept, ideas carefully logged. Yet he shrugs off any mystique. “I am very fortunate that I don’t have a lack of ideas.”

Still, he admits that writing places emotional demands on its creator. A writer, he says, must remain entangled with the world, you can never fully step away from it. What you can do is seek balance. Writing becomes both an anchor and an escape, and that is where humour enters.

“Humour is a very powerful vehicle for serious statements about the world,” he says. Used well, it reveals truth without cruelty. “The world really has its own amusing side.” The best humour, he believes, captures nuance—allowing us to see complexity without despair.

It’s why he speaks fondly of R.K. Narayan and Malgudi Days. “One of my favourite writers,” he says. “Gentle, and yet makes such poignant statements.”

In the end, McCall Smith’s work offers no grand heroics, only the radical act of choosing hope, again and again. And perhaps that, is the point.