No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency prequel published in Scots
A prequel to the best-selling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels is being published in the Scots language, a year before it is translated into English.

By Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor, The Telegraph
Published: 09 Feb 2010

The latest book by Alexander McCall Smith features an eight-year-old Previous Ramotswe, the star of the popular series that has sold 20 million copies worldwide and been turned into a BBC TV series.

Titled Precious and the Puggies, it will tell the story of the detective’s first case, when she was a child growing up in Botswana.

But the book will only initially be available in Scots, the first time in decades that a mainstream novel has been published in the language before English.
Mr McCall Smith was asked a year ago by a publisher specialising in Scots to translate one his children’s books, but instead suggested writing a brand new tale.
“The fact that so many of my books have been translated into so many languages is a source of great delight,” the Edinburgh-based author said.
“But that fact that this new story is appearing in Scots is the icing on the cake.”

The author is not a native Scots speaker, but wrote the story in English and handed the text to James Robertson, a fellow writer and co-founder of Itchy Coo, which publishes Scots books for youngsters.

However, Mr McCall Smith said he was a keen supporter of Scots, adding: “Every language has something to offer, a different way of looking at the world, a stock of poetry and song.

“The disappearance of a language is like the silencing of some lovely bird.”

The book, the title of which translates into English to ‘Precious and the Monkeys’, tells how the young detective discovers who is stealing the cakes her classmates bring to school for their lunch break.
The full story at The Telegraph.