Carillion, Three Years On: “Somebody, somewhere getting a million”
15 Jan ’21
Today is the third anniversary of the collapse of construction giant Carillion. On 15 January 2018, Carillion went down with debts of more than…
2021 Preview: Nature and the Outdoors
15 Jan ’21
While we spent a great deal of 2020 staying at home, many of us also took the opportunity to connect more with nature and explore our local…
2021 Preview: Literary Fiction, Literary History, Poetry Highlights
14 Jan ’21
Our programme of publishing for 2021 is full of remarkable books that will take you all over the world, propel you back and forward in time, bring…
Alexander McCall Smith to receive 2020 Edinburgh Award
22 Dec ’20
Internationally-admired Edinburgh-based author Alexander McCall Smith CBE has been chosen as this year’s recipient of the…
Birlinn Books – Notes from the Basement, December 21st, 2020
21 Dec ’20
It’s the winter solstice, called by a poet ‘the year’s midnight’, and our final newsletter of the year comes just a few hours before the hour…
A Hogmanay Tradition: Black Bun Recipe
21 Dec ’20
Black bun, sometimes also known as Scotch bun, is a pastry-enrobed fruit cake which was originally a treat eaten on Twelfth Night, but is now much…
A January Bargain
21 Dec ’20
Remember when there used to be the ‘January Sales’? Or did you ever queue up early on a freezing Boxing Day? We seem now to be in an…
Must Read
One for Discussion – 100 Novels that Shaped our World
09 Nov ’19
Birlinn are delighted to have two novels on the list – 100 Novels that Shaped our World, selected by BBC Radio 4 Front Row presenter and TLS…
A Library of One’s Own
09 Nov ’19
‘From the moment I first ventured into a library I wanted one of my own.’ Famously, Virginia Woolf said that a woman must have money and a room of…
The Stone of Destiny – A Great Adventure
17 Dec ’20
Unless the fates shall faithless prove, And prophets voice be vain. Where’er this sacred Stone is found, The Scottish race shall reign. Some years…
Poem of the Week: Winter by Alexander McCall Smith
15 Dec ’20
We are now just a week away from the shortest day of the year, so it seems particularly appropriate to share the poem ‘Winter’ from…
Speaking personally… about Tim Clarkson
15 Dec ’20
One of the things that has always fascinated me about the country I am from is the early history which began the processes which led (not without…
Cassius X: Sunshine and Upheaval
15 Dec ’20
In the below extract from his newest book Cassius X, Stuart Cosgrove transports us to the sticky heat and neon glare of Miami in 1963, where Cassius…
Bonnie Prince Charlie at 300: Extract from Reminiscences of a Jacobite by Michael Nevin
11 Dec ’20
When Jacobite enthusiast Michael Nevin successfully bid for a handwritten letter and memorandum by Bonnie Prince Charlie at an auction, little did he…
Staff Picks for Christmas Pressies! (Part one)
08 Dec ’20
We asked members of our staff team to select two books that they would give as Christmas presents this year. And here is what they said (some got…
A is for Applecross: A Gaelic Alphabet
08 Dec ’20
Alistair Moffat’s In Search of Angels: Travels to the Edge of the World is his own journey in the footsteps of the Irish saints who brought…
A Message that Stands the Test of Time
07 Dec ’20
The demands of publishing and the constant need for new books can often be an exhausting and demanding process. One of its great pleasures is when…
Look Who’s In… The Scotsman Books of the Year
07 Dec ’20
From an outstanding year of Birlinn books, the Scotsman highlighted no less than ELEVEN of our titles in their Books of the Year supplement. You can…
Q & A with DENZIL MEYRICK
04 Dec ’20
This week we sat down (figuratively speaking) with Denzil Meyrick to discuss his new books and the wider events of what has been a tumultuous year! A…
Sweets in Shoes?
02 Dec ’20
By Ann Landmann, Sales Rep When I was growing up in the East of Germany, the 6th December was Nikolaus – your first haul of sweets or…
Feet on the Ground, Heads Spinning towards New Opportunity
01 Dec ’20
Have you stumbled across Schitt’s Creek on Netflix? It took me a while to catch up with the rest of the world as one influencer after another raved…
Poem of the Week: The Way to Warebeth Beach by Andrew Greig
30 Nov ’20
This poem from Andrew Greig’s new collection, Later That Day, is about the familiar routine of walking your dog on a familiar beach on a…
Ten Years to a Tapestry
26 Nov ’20
Ten years to celebrate Scotland. Ten years to bring a dream to fruition. Ten years to reach the new starting point for something incredibly…
In thrall to the small
24 Nov ’20
This spring, there were lofty and gargantuan reading-intentions abroad. Lockdown was the time to finally read War and Peace, or any one of the…
Getting Over Christmas (in Japan)
15 Dec ’20
Iain Maloney moved to Japan in 2005. This year, we published his memoir The Only Gaijin in the Village, the story of moving out of the city to the…
Alastair McIntosh on COP26 and the Climate Crisis in the Latest Episode of the Birlinn Podcast
03 Nov ’20
Photo by Jaz King on Unsplash In the latest episode of the Birlinn Limited Podcast, environmental campaigner and writer Alastair McIntosh speaks from…
We’ve Discovered a New Podcast (and we are happy to share!)
29 Oct ’20
At this peculiar – and often lonely – time of social isolation, there can be few more welcome treats than the discovery of a brand new…
Alistair Moffat Travels to the Edge of the World on the Birlinn Podcast this Week…
20 Oct ’20
Join award-winning writer and historian Alistair Moffat as he travels through the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the footsteps of the…
-
Hardback | Pub: 06 Sep 2018
£12.99£10.39We’re in the middle of a Gin Craze. Scarcely a day goes by without an established brand offering a fresh take on their established styles or, more likely, a new boutique distillery opening its doors – where gin is de rigueur. From Adnams to…
