Polygon Editor Edward Crossan has acquired World English Language Rights to The Limits by Emily Munro from Julie Fergusson at The North Literary Agency. In the summer of 2023, Polygon opened for speculative fiction submissions which maintained ‘a strong connection to Scotland,’ and The Limits was an outstanding entry which caught the attention of the editorial team at Polygon.

‘Emily Munro’s unforgettable debut novel, set in a near future on a decommissioned oil rig which has been converted into a flagship wellness facility in the North Sea, was brought to my attention following a speculative and fantasy fiction call-out instigated by members of our Sales and Publicity team,’ says Edward Crossan, ‘It was by far and away the strongest submission, and I was hooked after reading the first few pages. It’s literary fiction with elements of cli-fi, spec fiction and thriller – who wouldn’t love it? I’m thrilled to be working with Emily on this perfectly crafted novel, and I’m pleased to welcome her to the Polygon list.’

’It’s a joy to be working with the talented Polygon team on my debut. I am grateful to them for believing in my vision, and I can’t wait to share this story with readers.’

–Author Emily Munro

While The Limits will be her first published novel, Emily Munro is an established writer and poet whose work has appeared in literary magazines such as New Writing Scotland and The Amsterdam Review. She also recently won Briefly Write’s 10 Word Story Competition and was shortlisted for The 2025 Alpine Fellowship poetry prize.

‘Emily Munro’s powerful novel envisions a future that feels dangerously close – a world dominated by corporations, stricken by yawning inequality and environmental collapse, and where rapid technological advancement has blurred the boundaries of what it means to be human,’ says Julie Fergusson of The North Literary Agency, ‘I’m delighted that this thought-provoking literary debut has found a home with Polygon.’

The Limits will be published by Polygon in 2027.

Emily Munro is an author, filmmaker and curator. She has an MLitt in Creative Writing from Glasgow University, and, in
2022, she was selected for Creative Scotland’s writers’ development scheme, Our Voices. Her archive documentary Living Proof: A Climate Story (2021) received critical acclaim and was nominated for the prestigious FOCAL International Awards (2022). The Limits is her debut novel.