Remembering Jane Haining on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
27 Jan ’20
Jane Haining, a Scottish woman killed by the Nazis for her work among Jews in wartime Hungary, has found the biographer that she deserves. …
2021 Preview: Arena Sport
26 Jan ’21
Discover the magic of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, learn the real story behind one of the world’s most iconic sporting stars as well as one of…
Poem of the Week: Jenni Fagan, Spell for Hope and Renewal
26 Jan ’21
Jenni Fagan has brightened the start of 2021 with the January publication of her novel Luckenbooth, which she describes as a “love letter to…
Recipe of the Week: Roasted Beetroots with Marmalade by Shirley Spear
25 Jan ’21
Have you, like Liz Hurley, been making marmalade this week? The Seville orange season comes and goes in the blink of an eye, but if you’ve…
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…
A New Chapter at the National Library of Scotland – with Alexander McCall Smith
22 Jan ’21
In Edinburgh, we are incredibly fortunate to have the deep-shelved stacks of the National Library of Scotland – filled with rare manuscripts and…
2021 Preview: History and Current Affairs
22 Jan ’21
From books exploring the interwoven history of tea and Scotland to the rise of China’s surveillance state, we have a range of brilliantly…
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…
Notes from the Basement – 19 January 2021
20 Jan ’21
THE DYSTOPIAN MASTERPIECE NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR We are proud to announce the publication of our brand new edition of George Orwell’s 1984….
2021 Preview: Crime Writing from Polygon
19 Jan ’21
At Polygon we are proud to publish a wide range of crime writing from bestselling authors and exciting new voices. Our 2021 line-up includes…
Poem of the Week: Norman MacCaig, Praise of a thorn bush
18 Jan ’21
An Edinburgh school teacher by profession, poet Norman MacCaig spent his summers in Assynt in the far north west of Scotland. From their first visit…
Recipe: Cock-a-leekie Soup (for the Soul)
18 Jan ’21
Chicken soup is a global panacea. So much so, in fact, that it’s given its name to a whole self-help franchise, Chicken Soup for the Soul….
Speaking personally: Orwell, Jura and 1984
18 Jan ’21
As Polygon publishes a new edition of George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece 1984, Managing Director Hugh Andrew speculates on the connections…
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…
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…
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…
