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Eleanor Wachtel talks with the Scottish phenomenon - Alexander McCall Smith, creator of the extraordinarily popular series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency , plus The Sunday Philosophy Club , 44 Scotland Street , and much more. He talks about life in Africa, the lives of his characters. He reads from his books Blue Shoes and Happiness (2006) and Dream Angus: The Celtic God of Dreams (2006).

This week on Writers & Company: Eleanor Wachtel talks to Scotland's Irvine Welsh at the Luminato Festival in Toronto. It's been almost twenty years since his first novel Trainspotting made him a controversial bestseller. Now, he's written a prequel, called Skagboys.

Writers & Company launches a special four-part series, "Rewriting History: Scotland's New Century." Eleanor Wachtel visits Scotland to talk with some of the country's most interesting and adventurous writers about their lives and work. In lively and intimate conversations, she goes beyond the sentimental stereotypes of tartans and bagpipes to get an insightful picture of Scotland today, a region whose citizens have a new sense of themselves. This week: Change is unsettling and exciting…

This week on Writers & Company - Part 2 of the special series "Rewriting History: Scotland's New Century." It's host Eleanor Wachtel in conversation with some of the country's most interesting and adventurous writers, going beyond the sentimentality of tartans and bagpipes for an up-to-date picture of a changing and dynamic society. This week, from Glasgow, William McIlvanney, the originator of the "tartan noir" crime fiction. His honest, autobiographical novels draw on his background as…

This week on Writers & Company - Part 3 of the special series "Rewriting History: Scotland's New Century." More from Scotland - Eleanor Wachtel talks with novelist and essayist Andrew O'Hagan. The award-winning author of Be Near Me brings a different perspective to the questions of nationalism, religion, and politics.

This week on Writers and Company - Part 4 of the special series "Rewriting History: Scotland's New Century." Host Eleanor Wachtel wraps up the special series with a conversation with poet and novelist Jackie Kay. Born in Edinburgh to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father, Kay was adopted and raised by a white Glasgow couple active in the Communist Party. She looks at Scottish society from a fresh and interesting angle.

Graeme Macrae Burnet's novels are something different: not-so-true crime stories that blur the line between documentary and fiction. The Scottish writer's 2015 book, His Bloody Project: documents relating to the case of Roderick Macrae : a novel – set in the Highlands during the 19th century – was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, while his most recent title, Case Study, has been called "a page-turning blast, funny, sinister and perfectly plotted." It takes place in 1960s London and follows…

Eleanor Wachtel speaks with the award-winning Scottish poet and essayist, Kathleen Jamie. Her latest book, Findings, is, as one critic put it, "as close as you can get to a conversation with the natural world."