‘The Drowned Rose’ – Extract from TALES FOR TWILIGHT
22 Oct ’21
Tales for Twilight offers a spine-tingling selection of unnerving tales by writers from James Hogg in the early eighteenth century to James…
Updating the Dictionary: New Edition of Ian Crofton’s A Dictionary of Scottish Phrase and Fable
21 Oct ’21
From ‘Aald Rock’ to ‘Zeenty-teenty’, author Ian Crofton has cast his eye across Scottish life, history, language and culture to produce a…
Announcing The Goldenacre – a literary thriller by Philip Miller
19 Oct ’21
Polygon is thrilled to announce the signing of The Goldenacre, a new novel by Philip Miller. An enthralling literary thriller set in the world of…
Warm up with a Hot Toddy from The Pocket Guide to Whisky
18 Oct ’21
The Pocket Guide to Whisky explores every kind of whisky, from the well-known Scottish giants of Glenlivet, to the exotic Japanese Hibiki, featuring…
SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE – Extract from BLOOD AND GOLD by Mara Menzies
15 Oct ’21
Blood and Gold is a powerful, dynamic fusion of African and Scottish myth and fantasy which explores the themes of racism, immigration and…
Growing up Black in a White World
14 Oct ’21
Blood and Gold by Mara Menzies This is a book that you won’t be expecting. But it is a book that you need – indeed that we all need. It is a book…
Merryn Glover wins Bookmark Book of the Year 2021 for Of Stone and Sky
12 Oct ’21
CONGRATULATIONS to Merryn Glover, whose epic novel of modern Highland life, Of Stone and Sky, has been awarded the Bookmark Book Festival Book of the…
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…
Bookshop Day – A beautiful poem in support of your Local Bookshop – we agree with every word!
08 Oct ’21
Take a walk down the High Street on Bookshop Day and get lost in your Local Bookshop Launched in 2016, Bookshop Day 2021 takes place on…
Sixty Years on and STILL in its Prime
07 Oct ’21
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark – first published SIXTY YEARS ago this week. Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, set…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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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…
