Notes from the Basement, 21 September 2021
21 Sep ’21
A last hoorah before the colder days of winter… Tomorrow is the Autumn Equinox and, as if in anticipation, last night the full Harvest Moon –…
World Gratitude Day: ‘If Once You Have Slept on an Island’ by Rachel Lyman Field
20 Sep ’21
Tuesday 21st September is World Gratitude Day, and over the past 18 months, it is our healthcare professionals to whom we owe the greatest debt of…
Deep Apple Pie with Butterscotch and Oaty Crumble from Sue Lawrence’s Scottish Baking
20 Sep ’21
Ring in the first official week of autumn this week with a celebratory recipe filled to bursting with warm apples and crumbly pastry. This delicious…
Terms of Restitution NOW AVAILABLE ON AUDIO
16 Sep ’21
We are delighted to report that the Audio Book of Denzil Meyrick’s Terms of Restitution is released today, read by actor Angus King. Find it…
Hannah Lavery Confirmed as Edinburgh Makar: Poetry Collection Blood Salt Spring coming 2022
16 Sep ’21
We are delighted that poet and playwright Hannah Lavery, who has just joined the Polygon list, has been selected as Edinburgh’s new Makar (poet…
Game, Set… and a slightly older Match
15 Sep ’21
Britain’s Emma Raducanu from Bromley has etched her name into Tennis history books this week in spectacular style, just as the teenager Lottie…
Denzil Meyrick and Doug Skelton meet crime superstar Ian Rankin
14 Sep ’21
Our favourite crime writers, Doug Skelton and Denzil Meyrick are back after an 18 month hiatus with their much loved podcast SBooks. To kick start…
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…
Reappraising the caricature – Extract from Neville Chamberlain: The Passionate Radical
09 Sep ’21
Neville Chamberlain is remembered today as Hitler’s credulous dupe, the man who proclaimed in September 1938 that the Munich agreement guaranteed…
Highlights from EIBF 2021
31 Aug ’21
Mara Menzies The live audience at the EIBF Sculpture Court theatre were held in suspenseful silence by Mara Menzie’s performance reading of a…
August 31st, 1969 – PELE’S ROAD TO GLORY
31 Aug ’21
On August 31st, 1969 Brazil clinched qualification for the 1970 World Cup Finals by beating Paraguay 1-0 at the Maracana. After a disastrous World…
A New Chapter for The Edinburgh International Book Festival
24 Aug ’21
This year, The Edinburgh International Book Festival are staging a hybrid programme of over 250 events from their new home at the University of…
Denise Mina & Ghillie Basan at Fringe by the Sea
16 Aug ’21
Last Tuesday, we caught up with Denise Mina and Ghillie Basan at their events at the Fringe by the Sea, North Berwick’s annual arts and culture…
Polygon signs new historical crime series from Steven Veerapen
03 Aug ’21
We are delighted to announce the signing of a new historical crime series from Steven Veerapen to the Polygon list. Inspired and insightful, the…
Have you heard it? The Parting Glass on BBC Radio 4
28 Jul ’21
I’m a bit hit and miss with BBC Radio 4 these days. Some of the programmes are truly world class, others leave me cold and struggling to understand…
It Happened Today in History – The Stone of Destiny
03 Jul ’21
On 3 July 1996, twenty-five years ago today, John Major stood up in the The House of Commons and announced that the Stone of Scone (the Stone of…
Novels to Sizzle with this Summer
28 Jun ’21
Are you wondering what to pack for your staycation? In no particular order, here is our pick of some of the best novels for your…
It’s World Whisky Day! What’s your Dram?
15 May ’21
Whisky is just the best go-to tipple on cold days, fireside evenings, after long walks on the beach or in the hills, sitting with a good book……
Dystopian Visions – Closer than you think?
14 May ’21
‘The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command’ — George Orwell George…
Something Money Can’t Buy
23 Apr ’21
Michael McEwan on the failed European Super League At the entrance to Celtic Park, the home of Glasgow Celtic FC, there is a bronze statue of the…
World Poetry Day: Dispatches from the Poetry Desk
18 Mar ’21
We are proud of the Polygon poetry catalogue, which runs the gamut from the collected works of Norman MacCaig and Hamish Henderson, to volumes by…
World Poetry Day Staff Picks: Our Favourite Scottish Poems
18 Mar ’21
The act of choosing a favourite can be all about the moment in time, it’s to capture a feeling, mood or resonance rather than to designate a…
A Lesson in the Value of Perseverance: NASA and the Stirling Engine
23 Feb ’21
In the week NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars, Birlinn MD Hugh Andrew looks at another case of long-range perseverance with a NASA…
Burns Night? It’s Looking a Little Different This Year…
25 Jan ’21
A Poem for Burns Night by Alexander McCall Smith Give us your hand – here’s ours: All Scotland, though a little quieter now, Is a bit happier in…
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…
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Paperback | Pub: 07 Oct 2021£14.99The 21st century’s own Gin Craze continues unabated, with exciting new crafted gins launched on a regular basis. Most recently, we have seen growing interest in Pink Gins and the development of a range of flavoured gins, not to mention the…
