Celebrating the Local with Alexander McCall Smith

“I hope my novels celebrate the local,” said to a group of some 500 who attended the Friends of the Ridgewood Library’s 22^nd Annual Author Luncheon, Thurs., March 31, 2011, at the Woodcliff Lake Hilton. “And this is an appropriate audience for the local,” added McCall Smith, noting that the library is worthy local focus.

He found only agreement in the audience, many of whom clutched copies of The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, the latest in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel series, and others of McCall Smith’s more than 60 books. Before the lunch and talk, McCall Smith signed books and posed for numerous photographs with fans who came from Ridgewood and many other towns in the state.

Sounding the same theme, Nina Feeney, Friends President, encouraged attendees to join the Friends of the Ridgewood Library. “This is the year to join,” she said. “The library needs the support of the community.”

The annual luncheon features a 50/50 raffle, as well as a silent auction. In addition, Bookends sold copies of McCall Smith’s works at the event; a portion of proceeds will benefit the library. And sales were brisk, according to owner Walter Boyer. He brought 150 copies of the latest novel with him, and expected to sell them all.

McCall Smith is just the latest literary luminary to speak at the annual Friends’ fundraiser. Previous authors include Elizabeth Strout, Lisa See, Khaled Hosseini, Sue Monk Kidd, Anita Shreve and Ridgewood’s own . Proceeds from the event, which includes a silent auction, will benefit the Ridgewood Public Library.

The committee that brought the luncheon to life includes Co-Chairs Pegge Bronner and Susan Davison; Auction Co-Chairs Sherry Frank and Sharon Yacura; Reservations Co-Chairs Edith Fiato and Marie Malloy; Denise Smith, Auction Presentations; Elizabeth Clothier for Table Arrangements; and Ann Burley, who served as Raffle Chair.

Bronner and Davison, note that the annual event “is always an enjoyable afternoon with friends who love to read and enjoy "shopping" at the auction.” This year is extra-special, with McCall Smith in attendance. “The accomplished and charming Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith is our guests,” says Bronner. “Mr. McCall Smith was born in what is now Zimbabwe, was educated there and in Scotland. His novels reflect his life by being set in various locations such as Botswana and Edinburgh.”

After a lunch of salmon, with a nod to McCall Smith’s Scottish heritage, the speaker took the stage.

“I don’t do excitement,” McCall Smith said to laughter. “There is enough happening in the world.” Instead, he told the group, he writes novels where nothing much happens. In doing so, he follows the model of Jane Austen, whom he described the “master,” who wrote “upon a tiny square of ivory.”

The small-scale event is important to McCall Smith and to his characters, he said, because “it’s important to us.” He added, “Local events, small events, are tremendously important and give life its texture.”

Some of his best-known characters include Mma. Ramotswe, the lady detective of the title, and Mma. Makutsi who, said McCall Smith, “stands for people who have had to battle for what they’ve got.”

Another favorite character is Bertie, from the Scotland Street series, who was invented, said McCall Smith, from the novelist’s observation of “pushy mothers.”  “We have,” he said confidentially “a pushy mother problem in Edinburgh.” (As an aside, McCall Smith noted that, in Edinburgh, to say something confidential means the listener should repeat it to just one person at a time. If something is strictly confidential, the listener should wait a day.)

Pausing often to laugh, McCall Smith confessed to being a “serial novelist,” one for whom “The End” are difficult words to write.  

Just as novels draw to a conclusion – even if it’s not “The End,” the Friends of the Ridgewood Library’s 22^nd Annual Author Luncheon drew to a close. Even as the audience clapped, some attendees said they planned to go straight home and read the book. A few planned further ahead.

“I’ll be back next year,” two enthusiastic tablemates agreed.

Hope they save some seats for the rest of us.