Your Chance to Join the Team
13 Apr ’21
Birlinn Ltd, Scotland’s largest independent publishing house, is seeking to employ a full-time Events Co-ordinator and Campaign Assistant – come…
Poem of the Week: ‘A New Child: ECL’ by George Mackay Brown
13 Apr ’21
Today marks 25 years since George Mackay Brown died on 13th April 1996 in Stromness, Orkney. But 2021 also sees the centenary of his birth. Polygon…
A First Encounter with Pine Martens: Extract from A Richness of Martens
12 Apr ’21
A Richness of Martens by Polly Pullar was released in paperback this month, and in celebration, we have chosen an extract to share from this…
Cheesy French toast with garlicky rosemary mushrooms: Extract from The Scottish Brunch Bible
12 Apr ’21
Spring brings with it wider variety of fresh produce available at our local supermarkets and grocers, and the warmer days make us reach for more…
An Insight into the Royal Family: Extract from The Final Curtsey
10 Apr ’21
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was married to Queen Elizabeth II for 73 years, and was the longest serving consort to a British monarch. Their…
Marking Earth Hour with Alexander McCall Smith
29 Mar ’21
To mark Earth Hour 2021, Alexander McCall Smith wrote a poem, ‘Only One Home’, about Climate Change for environmental charity WWF…
The Lady Tram Driver Has Arrived: Women’s History Month V
29 Mar ’21
In 1915, Glasgow was the first city in Britain to hire female tram drivers, partly as a result of the deficit of male workers during the war. This…
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…
Forager’s Frittata from The Scottish Brunch Bible
29 Mar ’21
This Thursday is publication day for The Scottish Brunch Bible by Ghillie Basan, which contains a trove of recipes inspired by Scottish cuisine, both…
Poem for Holy Week: Pilate at Fortingall by Edwin Morgan
29 Mar ’21
Edwin Morgan wrote a Good Friday poem about a man he met on a Glasgow bus at 3pm that day. You can feel the spring sunshine through the grimy windows…
Waking Up on Iona: Alistair Moffat goes In Search of Angels
27 Mar ’21
Alistair Moffat roamed across Scotland’s western seaboard looking for traces of the saints who first brought Christianity to these shores….
After Flodden: Women’s History Month IV
23 Mar ’21
This week, in our series of Women’s History Month extracts from Rosemary Goring’s Scotland: Her Story, we encounter an instance of women…
Spring flowers: Silver Birch from Scottish Plant Lore
23 Mar ’21
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is home to an enormous collection of plants, both native to Scotland and from all corners of the globe. In…
Poem of the Week: from The Book of Iona edited by Robert Crawford
23 Mar ’21
With Palm Sunday and Holy Week on the horizon, we turn west to The Book of Iona. This anthology, edited by Robert Crawford, is ‘given over to…
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…
World Poetry Day: Somewhere / Today by Nadine Aisha Jassat
16 Mar ’21
A cosmic alignment sees World Poetry Day coincide with the first day of Spring on Sunday 21st March 2021. That said, this week’s poem is a…
Wild Garlic and Potato Soup from the Scottish Wild Food Bible
16 Mar ’21
Wild garlic is the perfect place to start if you are new to foraging, hugely abundant in woodlands throughout the spring months, and also a very…
Convent Espionage: Women’s History Month III
15 Mar ’21
Our third instalment of extracts for Women’s History Month is a double decker: early-modern prioresses and the very modern Muriel Spark. The…
‘Little Beings’: Extract from Mother: A Human Love Story by Matt Hopwood
09 Mar ’21
Mother’s Day is coming up on 14th March, and in celebration, we have chosen an extract from Mother: A Human Love Story by Matt Hopwood, in…
Women’s History Month – Scotland: Her Story, Part II
08 Mar ’21
In our second extract from Rosemary Goring’s essential anthology, Scotland: Her Story, we present an interview with the only Scottish…
Poem of the Week: Kishie Wife by Roseanne Watt
08 Mar ’21
Roseanne Watt rewrites the myth of the bringer of fire in this short poem. In Shaetlan, kishie is a woven basket. In this instance, it is one worn on…
March is Women’s History Month: ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ by Janice Galloway from Scotland: Her Story
02 Mar ’21
March is Women’s History Month, with International Women’s Day taking place on 8th March. Rosemary Goring’s anthology, Scotland:…
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…
