Issues archive
It's hard to get going in a new year with winter storms continuing to bash us about, but when it comes to books, there is always much to get excited by! Let us ring your bell with brilliant new voices, fantastic fiction, poetry, history and children's books, delicious recipes and celebrations of our legendary literary past.
Featuring:
The Kavya Prize – The Highly Commended
Clairmont: Q & A with Lesley McDowell
All the Violet Tiaras: Queering the Greek Myths
Ava Anna Ada
Kevin the Orange
Who’s Aldo?
Green New Worlds
The Hotel Hokusai
James Clerk Maxwell: Faith, Church and Physics
Café Canna
10 Scotland Street: Q & A with Leslie Hills
The Bumblebee Garden: Q & A with Author and Illustrator
Poor Things
The Salt and the Flame
Sleekit
David Robinson Reviews: To the Dogs
The festive season will soon be upon us, and we are here to get you ahead of the game for gifting recommendations. Whether a foodie, a muso, a nature lover, a fiction fan, or a connoisseur of real life stories, you'll find the perfect present for every kind of bibliophile. Let's get celebrating!
Photo credit: Svetozar Cenisev, Unsplash
Featuring:
Scotland’s Christmas: A Q&A with Thomas Christie and Murray Cook
Rambling Man: My Life on the Road
Already, Too Late: A Boyhood Memoir
The 44 Scotland Street Cookbook
The Book… According to S. G. MacLean
Peat and Whisky: A Q&A with Mike Billett
David Robinson Reviews: Columba’s Bones
The Lost Flock: A Q&A with Jane Cooper
Shake It Up, Baby! Top Beatle Moments of 1963
Wild Hope: Healing Words to Find Hope in Dark Days
My Lady Parts: A Life Fighting Stereotypes
Nothing But a Set of Eyes For Stars
Finding Treasure Island
The Coiled Serpent
Interpreting Dreams
The Wrong Person to Ask
A Greenhorn Naturalist in Borneo
Herbology
It's the season of summer breaks, festivals, and holiday reads – and do we have some good ones for you! In this issue of BooksfromScotland, we have an outstanding array of the best fiction, non-fiction, and poetry to hit your shelves over the warm summer months. So sit back, relax, and press play.
Featuring:
Grayson Perry: Smash Hits
Rainy Day Edinburgh
Little Black Dress
The Black Eden: A Q&A with Richard T. Kelly
David Robinson interviews John Lister-Kaye
Spectacular Scottish Women
Magnaccioni
From Our Own Fire
Across the Silent Sea
The Bay
Spec Fic for Newbies
So Many Lives and All of Them are Yours: A Q&A with Ron Butlin
Fayne
Here at BooksfromScotland we're gearing up to our summer holidays and we thought we'd help you prepare for your breaks too. We have books this month that deserve a place in your beach bag, that celebrate the people, places, landscape and architecture of Scotland - if you're planning to stay at home - as well as books that will keep the kids occupied while you travel.
Featuring:
Iona Abbey Cookbook
Wild History: Journeys into Lost Scotland
Mousa to Mackintosh: The Scottishness of Scottish Architecture
Be More Dog
David Robinson Interviews Jamie Jauncey
The Japan Lights: A Q & A with Iain Maloney
This Is My Body Given For You
It Came From The Closet
Uncle Pete and the Polar Bear Rescue
Sweet Skies
Red Star Over Hebrides
This month, it's time to puff out our chests, walk tall and look up to the spring sunshine. And we have a fantastic array of books that will help you do just that! Read on for new fiction, poetry and children's books, as well as travel writing, memoir and books on wellbeing that celebrate nature, family, ambition, and adventure.
Featuring:
Mother Sea
Weak Teeth
The Book … According to Nadine Aisha Jassat
Alan Windram Reads One Button Benny and the Dinosaur Dilemma
Our Hideous Progeny
Pages From My Passport: A Q & A with Amelia Dalton
Kitchen Music
The Ghost Cat
Letters From Elsinore
The Wild Swimmer of Kintail: An Interview with Kellan Macinnes
Redeeming Our Cracks
Walter’s Wonky Web
Music in the Dark: A Q & A with Sally Magnusson
This month we celebrate reaching out and embracing the new: new stories, authors, ideas and connections. We offer a brilliant array of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children's books that invite you in to their worlds for enlightenment, entertainment and adventure. It's time for you to unwrap these goodies!
Featuring:
The Grief Nurse: A Q & A with Angie Spoto
Scotty Plants a Seed
The Maiden: A Q & A with Kate Foster
Electricity
Hair/Power
The Book … According to Claire Alexander
Sea Bean: Patrick Jamieson Reviews
Writing Landscape
Lipstick and Leather: Kim Hawes’ Playlist
Museum Mystery Squad and the Case from Outer Space
The Dark and Dangerous Gifts of Delores Mackenzie
Euro Spies
In Search of the Blue Flower
Femke
Empress Irini Series
Wintersong
Cedric e Flapper Skate
As the temperature shifts and we begin venturing out into spring, our March issue salutes the bold and brave fiction, non-fiction and children's books unafraid to stand out. Whatever the weather, we can always rely on great new Scottish books appearing on our shelves!
Featuring:
Thirsty Animals
Lady Macbethad: A Q & A with Isabelle Schuler
Why We’re Publishing The Zekameron
The Loneliest Revolution
The Hidden Fires: Merryn Glover on Nan Shepherd
Maisie and the Botanic Garden Mystery
BFFs: The Radical Potential of Female Friendship
Quinn: David Robinson Reviews
Nemidoonam
The Space Between Us
Henny is Stuck
Squeaky Clean
A Woman of the Sword
February, despite it being the year's second month, feels more like the time for beginnings. The sky is starting to lighten, the snowdrops are making their way out into the world and, as ever, great books are being published! This month we look at fiction, children's books, and non-fiction that look at the world anew. We hope you enjoy reading!
Featuring:
The Darker the Night
Corey’s Rock
Scottish Poetry: 1730 – 1830
The Broken Dragon: A Q & A with Karen McCombie
With or Without Angels
David Robinson Reviews: Elixir by Kapka Kassabova
Avocado Anxiety
Rivet Boy
A Spell of Good Things
Haarville
The Book … According to Stuart MacBride
Jennifer Juniper
In Ascension
Happy New Year from BooksfromScotland! If you're wondering what 2023 will have in store for you, then one thing we can guarantee and that is good reading! We kick off the year with books that highlight the classic and the iconic as well as explore how we make ourselves. There are some exciting debutants and familiar faces; what a great start to the year!
Featuring:
Rabbie’s Rhymes: Robert Burns for Wee Folk
The Book . . . According to Victoria Mackenzie
Ashes and Stones: A Scottish Journey In Search of Witches and Witness
Frankenstein – A Retelling: A Q & A with Tanya Landman
Beasts Before Us: A Q & A with Elsa Panciroli
Ivor Cutler: A Life Outside a Sitting Room
The Things We Do To Our Friends
Home
Saving Neverland
The Girl in the Photo
2022 is the Year of Stories, a year dedicated to Scotland's stories through the themes of Iconic Stories and Storytellers, New Stories, Scotland's People and Places, Local Tales and Legends and Inspired by Nature. And now we come to a time of celebration, of gathering together and enjoying the shared pleasure of gift giving. In this bumper festive issue we have many, many, many reading and gifting recommendations, and we hope you'll find a lot to inspire your own festivities as we end this year of Scotland's stories. We raise a glass to you all and wish you happy reading!
Featuring:
Labyrinth
War of the Wind
Shadows and Light: The Extraordinary Life of James McBey
The Golden Treasury of Scottish Verse
The Hebridean Baker’s Scottish Island Kitchen
Auld Aquaintance
Nasim Asl Interviews: Sophia Gravia
Carrie Kills a Man: A Q & A With Carrie Marshall
Pheobe Anne Traquair
Dashboard Elvis is Dead: Extra Features
Supper: A Recipe from Flora Sneddon
Gingerbread Men
Stick Mannie
The Book…According to Ever Dundas
David Robinson Reviews: The Heart of Things
Holy Waters
Local Hero
Early Golf: A Q & A with Neil S. Millar
In Public / In Private
nobody remembers the birdman
The Wee Kirkcudbright Centipede
The Fabulous Flotilla
2022 is the Year of Stories, a year dedicated to Scotland's stories through the themes of Iconic Stories and Storytellers, New Stories, Scotland's People and Places, Local Tales and Legends and Inspired by Nature. Many of Scotland's stories often go beyond the expected: we look to the wider world for inspiration; we ask questions of language, identity, place and time. The selection of books in this issue carry on in that tradition, and we have books from all genres, from novels to poetry to short shories as well as nature writing, history and children's books. Get reading! Go beyond!
Featuring:
The Call of the Cormorant
David Robinson Reviews: The Romantic
Sadie, Call the Polis
Nasim Asl Reviews: Orpheus Builds a Girl
The Tongue She Speaks: A Q & A with Emma Grae
The Banes O’ The Turas
Scotland’s Transnational Heritage
Puffins
Doras Gun Chlàimhean
Unthinkable
The Book…According to Debi Gliori
A Taste for Treason
Walking the Antonine Wall
2022 is the Year of Stories, a year dedicated to Scotland's stories through the themes of Iconic Stories and Storytellers, New Stories, Scotland's People and Places, Local Tales and Legends and Inspired by Nature. Now, as the excitement of the summer and the festival season winds down, and the seasons start to turn, we are here to recommend books that will refresh and encourage new passions. From fiction to picture books and history to travel, we have a collection of books here that celebrate art and life.
Featuring:
Edinburgh Come All Ye by Alan Spence
New Skin For Old Ceremony: Nasim Asl Interviews Arun Sood
Peak Beyond Peak
Creative Response: Tariq Ashkanani on His Bloody Project
i am ill with hope
Seasons of Storm and Wonder
Scottish Women Writers: 1800 to the First World War
Pretty Young Rebel: A Q & A with Flora Fraser
Hungry Beat: A Q & A with Douglas MacIntyre
The Tall Tale of the Giant’s Causeway
The Book. . . According to James Buchan
Anxiety Music
2022 is the Year of Stories, a year dedicated to Scotland's stories through the themes of Iconic Stories and Storytellers, New Stories, Scotland's People and Places, Local Tales and Legends and Inspired by Nature. And as BooksfromScotland are enjoying the summer sunshine, and the latest summer book releases, we can't but help recommend the books we think you should be putting in your suitcases for your holidays. From fabulous fiction, children's picture books and brilliant poetry to engrossing history, delightful cookery books and inspiring memoir, all the books here are guaranteed to keep you thrilled while you try to keep cool.
Featuring:
The Book…According to Denise Mina
Children of Paradise: A Q & A with Camilla Grudova
Boy Friends: An Interview with Michael Pedersen
Free to Go
Nudes
The Bookseller of Inverness
The Edge of the Plain
David Robinson Reviews: The Last Days by Ali Millar
The Arctic
The Boy Who Rescued a Rainbow
be/longing: A Q & A with Amanda Thomson
Creative Response: Arusa Qureshi on Brickwork
Vestigial: Nasim Rebecca Asl Interviews Juana Adcock
A Recipe from Biting Biting
Ginger and Me
In the Shadow of Piper Alpha
Seasonality
The Forgery
Scotland: The Global History
Meantime and The Black Dog
BooksfromScotland are delighted to welcome back the Scottish BPOC Writers Network to guest edit this month's issue based round the theme of Sanctuary. Here you will find poetry, fiction, children's books and essays from established and up-and-coming writers with books that will enrich and entertain.
The Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN) provides advocacy, literary events and professional development opportunities for BPOC writers based in or from Scotland. SBWN aims to connect Scottish BPOC writers with the wider literary sector in Scotland. The network seeks to partner with literary organisations to facilitate necessary conversations around inclusive programming in an effort to address and overcome systemic barriers. SBWN prioritises BPOC-led opportunities and is keen to bring focus to diverse literary voices while remaining as accessible as possible to marginalised groups.
Featuring:
Wacera Kamonji: Finding Sanctuary in our Communities
Creating Change: Lorraine Wilson on Rewriting the Margins
Another Way to Split Water: A Q & A with Alycia Pirmohamed
Threads Across Borders: Introducing Shasta Ali
Leela Soma on The Kavya Prize
From Murky Waters We Rise
Nikki Kilburn on Hadithi and the State of Black Speculative Fiction
A Welcome
Blood Salt Spring: The Making of a Collection
Only on the Weekends
Imperium
Re: Creation
Nasim Asl Interviews: Maisie Chan
2022 is the Year of Stories, a year dedicated to Scotland's stories through the themes of Iconic Stories and Storytellers, New Stories, Scotland's People and Places, Local Tales and Legends and Inspired by Nature. In this month's issue of BooksfromScotland, we invite you to stir the senses, to notice, to appreciate and reimagine the world around you with a fantastic selection of books. Here, we shine a spotlight on many genres from debut novels, nature writing and poetry to politics, short stories and childrens' books.
Featuring:
Uncle Pete and the Forest of Lost Things
Only on the Weekends: Nasim Asl’s Q & A with Dean Atta
Q&A: The Pharmacist by Rachelle Atalla
The Road Dance
A Billion Balloons of Questions
When Other People Saw Us, They Saw the Dead
Sea Fret
David Robinson Reviews: Just Go Down the Road
Model Citizens
The Tick and the Tock of the Crocodile Clock
A New Scotland
George Bunce and the Black Wave of Fear
Modren Makars: Yin by Irene Howat, Ann MacKinnon & Finola Scott
Walking North With Keats
2022 is the Year of Stories, a year dedicated to Scotland's stories through the themes of Iconic Stories and Storytellers, New Stories, Scotland's People and Places, Local Tales and Legends and Inspired by Nature. In this month's issue of BooksfromScotland, Sweet Inspiration, we highlight books - both fiction and non-fiction, and for adults and children - that celebrate those moments in life - love, friendship, health, art, beauty - that inspire everlasting memories.
Featuring:
Creative Response: Chitra Ramaswamy on Mama
The Trials of Mary Johnsdaughter
The Arena of the Unwell
Wayward
Life’s Stink & Honey
Cast Long Shadows
Article: Anne Brusatte on Dugie the Dinosaur
Article: Andrew Douglas-Home on Fishing
The Corncrake
Article: Tim Barrow on A War of Two Halves and Sweet F. A.
David Robinson Reviews: Alternatives to Valium
Nasim Asl Reviews: Young Mungo
Homelands: The History of a Friendship
Q&A: One Body: A Retrospective by Catherine Simpson
Q&A: Jim Byers and Jonathan Trew on Edinburgh’s Greatest Hits
2022 is the Year of Stories, a year dedicated to Scotland's stories through the themes of Iconic Stories and Storytellers, New Stories, Scotland's People and Places, Local Tales and Legends and Inspired by Nature. We carry on our 2022 celebration with the BooksfromScotland March Issue, The Bold and the Brave, where we highlight books - both fiction and non-fiction - on Scotland's past. We also shine a light on on thought-provoking and adventurous children's books, and exciting debuts and new voices that can point to Scotland's future.
Featuring:
Hex
I Am Not Your Eve: A Q and A with Devika Ponnambalam
Creative Response: Heather Parry on Where Decay Sleeps
Blood Salt Spring
Article: Olga Wojtas on Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Weird Sisters
David Robinson Reviews: The Instant
The Book… According to T. L. Huchu
Article: Ryan O’Connor on The Voids
Article: Lindsay Littleson on The Rewilders
All the Way Home
William Burrell: A Collector’s Life
Barossa Street
Velda the Awesomest Viking and the Ginormous Frost Giants
Limbic
Daughters of the North
2022 is the Year of Stories, a year dedicated to Scotland's stories through the themes of Iconic Stories and Storytellers, New Stories, Scotland's People and Places, Local Tales and Legends and Inspired by Nature. We carry on our 2022 celebration with the BooksfromScotland February issue, Do You Know . . .? where we highlight books - fiction, memoir, children's books, fantasy and crime - that delve into Scotland's past, present and imagined future.
Featuring:
2022 brings us the Year of Scotland's Stories and BooksfromScotland are delighted to bring you each issue this year celebrating this sharing of our stories. Each month we'll showcase the themes of the Year of Scotland's Stories - iconic stories and storytellers, new stories, Scotland's people and places, local tales and legends, and inspired by nature - and we kick off with January's theme of Afresh. Here, we recommend fiction, poetry, music, memoir and children's books that we hope will rejuvenate and put a spring in your step!
The image used to illustrated Departure Lounge is credited to VisitScotland.
Featuring:
David Robinson Reviews: The Second Cut
At Least This I Know
Creative Response – Mrs Death Misses Death
Themes for Great Cities
The Inner Circle
Love the Sinner
Talking History: A Q & A with Joan Haig and Joan Lennon
Queer Data
The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill
The Sky Beneath the Stone
Dragon Storm
Death by Appointment
The People’s City
Tigeropolis – On The Radio!
What a year for reading! The books of 2021 have been full of thrills, spills, beauty, bold thinking, delights and surprises. So, at BooksfromScotland we wanted to round off the year with a reminder of some of the highlights from our website this year as well as celebrate some excellent titles for Christmas - it is the gift giving season after all!
Featuring:
The Book . . . According to Jenni Fagan
Jackie Kay on Bessie Smith
Duck Feet
Bitterhall
Edge of the Grave: A Q & A with Robbie Morrison
Jeda Pearl Interviews: T. L. Huchu
Bhavika Govil Interviews: Sean Wai Keung
Islands of Abandonment
The Secret Life of Otters
Eat Bike Cook: Food Stories and Recipes from Female Cyclists
The Fairy Song: Interview with Illustrator Ruchi Mhasane
Hushabye Lullabye: Goodnight Dreams
A Working Class State of Mind
Grimms’ Fairy Tales in Scots
The Everliving Memory of John Valentine
Break in Case of Silence: New Writing Scotland
The Puffin Portal: An Interview with Vashti Hardy
Case Study
Deep Wheel Orcadia
The Biggest Footprint
Secrets of the Last Merfolk
A Portrait Without Likeness
Christmas Gifts for Everyone!
My Heart’s Content, My Greatest Gift
As it is the last day of COP26, BooksfromScotland decided to keep the Green conversation going with this latest issue. We have fiction, memoir, travel writing, nature writing and children's books to recommend this month, all with the message of the beauty of the natural world and how we should work together to treasure and sustain our planet.
Featuring:
Environmental Picture Books
The Biggest Footprint
Birding in an Age of Extinctions
The Peatlands of Britain and Ireland
Joan Eardley: Land and Sea – Life in Catterline
The End
Kings of a Dead World
Brickmakers
Secrets of the Last Merfolk
At the Very End of the Road
Bella
Shimmer
Welly Boot Broth
Higher Ground
It's good to spoil yourself at any time of the year, but especially so when the weather turns. So, we will say these magic words: treat yourself to this marvellous selection of memoir, film, cookery, children's books and fiction of every kind, all from brilliant storytellers . . .
Featuring:
The nights are drawing in; it's the perfect time to get cosy with crime fiction and we have an abundance of thrills and spills in this month's BooksfromScotland issue. And as well as championing new crime fiction, we also spotlight new voices in poetry and short fiction, childrens' adventure and histories that illuminate on Scotland's past. So get that cuppa, and get reading!
Featuring:
Welcome to Cooper
Fatal Duty
Break in Case of Silence: New Writing Scotland
The Puffin Portal: An Interview with Vashti Hardy
Slaves and Highlanders
Terms of Restitution: An Interview with Denzil Meyrick
The Purified
Look Where You Are Going, Not Where You Have Been
Sins of the Father: Debut Crime Fiction with Sharon Bairden
Life is Elsewhere, Burn Your Flags
Death of a Selkie
Some Rise by Sin
Dress for Death
Dark Travellers
The Mystery of the Strange Piper
Inner Space can mean many things, whether swimming across the globe, navigating fantasy realms, or simply ruminating on life, and there's no finer example of that breadth than the fiction, children's books, poetry and more you'll find in this issue. Let's dive in.
Featuring:
Small Bodies of Water
David Robinson reviews: News of the Dead, Rizzio and Rose Nicholson
Monument Maker
The Book According To… Val McDermid
Love: An Archaeology
The Fair Botanists: Interview with Sara Sheridan
Borges and Me
Line
Strategy: Get Arts – 35 Artists Who Broke the Rules
Grimms’ Fairy Tales in Scots
The Darlings: An interview with Angela Jackson
Fish Town
The Climbers
This Good Book
The Knitting Station
Between Tongues
Beyond the Swelkie
The schools are out, the sun is actually shining; the time is now to think about your holiday plans. And when we think of holidays, we think of holiday reading. If you're having trouble thinking what books to pack, then let BooksfromScotland recommend the latest in brilliant Scottish fiction, crime, children's books, poetry and memoir. You might need a bigger suitcase . . .
Featuring:
The Mash House
The Book According To… Nina Allan
Sunrise by the Sea
Phosphate Rocks
The Fairy Song: Interview with Illustrator Ruchi Mhasane
Patient Dignity
Smithers & Wing
A Working Class State of Mind
Hushabye Lullabye: Goodnight Dreams
Devorgilla Days: Interview with Kathleen Hart
The Race
Loch Down Abbey
Orkney: A Special Way of Life
Naranjas
STILL HOT!
A Song To Keep
This month’s issue celebrates a wonderful, diverse range of nature titles. As we emerge from our homes and venture beyond our own streets to experience the outdoors, we become aware that nature plays an immense part in how we live our everyday lives – part of living fully in the world as well as being a precious resource for our wellbeing. Nature books – and the connections people have with the natural world - have become a publishing phenomenon.
It’s not just confined to the countryside. There are deeper issues underlying an appreciation of landscape, flora and fauna in this month’s choices – combatting and managing climate change, balancing the needs of wildlife with the needs of rural economies, more intelligent land use, and celebrating nature in the most unlikeliest of urban settings.
And not least is the creative response to the natural world which comes to the fore in the fiction and memoirs. We hope you enjoy this month’s choice.
Featuring:
The Secret History of Here
Islands of Abandonment
The Nature of Summer, The Nature of Spring
A Biologist Abroad
Of Stone and Sky
David Robinson Reviews: Restoring the Wild
The Secret Life of Otters
Wild Winter: In search of nature in Scotland’s mountain landscape
Back From the Brink
This Is Our Undoing
The Corrour Bothy: A Refuge in the Wilderness
Shocked Earth
Land Reform in Scotland: History, Law and Policy
An Orkney Tapestry
The Black Cuillin
Eat Bike Cook: Food Stories and Recipes from Female Cyclists
Rathad an Isein / The Bird’s Road
A Guide to Climate Change Impacts on Scotland’s Historic Environment
Nature playlist
This month BooksfromScotland is delighted to hand over the editorial reins to Dean Atta, co-director of the Scottish BAME Writers Network. Here you will find fiction, poetry and non-fiction from established and up-and-coming writers with books that will surely find their way onto your bookshelves.
The Scottish BAME Writers Network (SBWN) provides advocacy, literary events and professional development opportunities for BAME writers based in or from Scotland. SBWN aims to connect Scottish BAME writers with the wider literary sector in Scotland. The network seeks to partner with literary organisations to facilitate necessary conversations around inclusive programming in an effort to address and overcome systemic barriers. SBWN prioritises BAME-led opportunities and is keen to bring focus to diverse literary voices while remaining as accessible as possible to marginalised groups.
Dean Atta is Co-director of the Scottish BAME Writers Network. His debut poetry collection, I Am Nobody’s Nigger, was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. His Young Adult novel in verse, The Black Flamingo, won the 2020 Stonewall Book Award, and was shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, YA Book Prize and Jhalak Prize.
Featuring:
Nasim Rebecca Asl Interviews: Tariq Ashkanani
Introducing . . . Zebib K. A.
Jeda Pearl Interviews: T. L. Huchu
Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths
BHP Comics: Plant a Seed and Remember to Water It
Things I Have Witheld
Bhavika Govil Interviews: Sean Wai Keung
Honorifics
Migrancies: Jay Wright in 70s Dundee
What do we want? A whole lot of great reading? Us too! And in this month's BooksfromScotland issue, we've got some EXCELLENT reading for you. From new novels from literary big hitters to new fiction from up-and-coming writers, and enlightening, challenging non-fiction to brilliant books for kids, we are really spoiling you this month.
Featuring:
Show Us Who You Are
Bitterhall
The Book According To… Ewan Morrison
The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer
David Robinson Reviews: In a Veil of Mist
One Man’s Trash
Edge of the Grave: A Q & A with Robbie Morrison
The Cultural Memory of Georgian Glasgow
Sea State
How Beautiful We Were
The Weather Weaver
This month, BooksfromScotland brings you the inspirational, the influential, and the infamous and books that look at our history, our future and our rites of passage. From fiction to memoir, from graphic novels to current affairs, we will take you around the world and beyond for your fix of good reading. Enjoy!
Featuring:
Happy Birthday, Lanark
David Robinson Reviews: How Britain Ends
The Book According to… Craig Russell
Mrs Death Misses Death
City of Vengeance
Duck Feet
Macbeth: The Red King
Cauvery Madhavan Reviews: Murder at the Mela
The Last Good Year
Havana Year Zero
Will Purdom, (1880-1921), Trade Unionist, Botanist and Ecologist
The Satanic in Science Fiction and Fantasy
Talking at the Gates: James Campbell on James Baldwin
A new year, a new start, a new adventure. Yet, as ever, some things remain the same - good books and good reading! We kick off the new year with recommendations for books that will fire the imagination, take you somewhere new, and make you think about the world we live in - from fiction, poetry and memoir to childrens' books, essays and reimagining classics, let's see in the new year in style.
Featuring:
Cat Step
Imagined Spaces
Lazy Susan
The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line
David Robinson Reviews: George Orwell in 2021
Intensive Care
News and How to Use It
The Book . . . According to Jenni Fagan
What We’re Looking Forward to in 2021
Ka, the Ring and the Raven
Festivals for the Future
We love to give you a bumper BooksfromScotland issue at this time of year to give you as many Christmas gift recommendations as possible. Every kind of book lover should find something here worth putting under their tree, from fiction, humour, biographies and cookery books, to thrillers, art, nature writing, poetry, and a huge variety of books for children. We're spoiling you, so you can spoil yourselves this year. You deserve it. Happy festive season!
Featuring:
The Middle of a Sentence
Captain Bobo and Friends
Space Team
The Otherwhere Emporium
A Friendship in Letters
The Real Stanley Baxter
The Changing Outer Hebrides
I Like Your Hat
Rescue Code
Maggie’s Magical Islands
Daisy on the Outer Line
The Book…According to David Keenan
Clanlands
The Seafood Shack
The Nesting
The Art of Ray Harryhausen
Christmas Stocking Fillers!
Perfect Book Gifts for Children
While we still negotiate restrictions in our daily life, the joy and wonder of books is that they can take us anywhere, anytime. In this month's issue, we have the best in new fiction, travel writing, children's books, graphic novels - and more - to help you adventure in inner space. Let's go!
Featuring:
Everything Passes, Everything Remains
The Book…According to Gavin Francis
Come By The Hills
David Robinson Reviews: Trio by William Boyd
A Study in Crimson
The Cauldron of Life
Tin Tin and Asterix in Scots and Gaelic
The Lost Lights of St Kilda
Jack’s Well
A Vulture Landscape
Fear in the World
Tomorrow’s Kitchen
Secrets She Kept
The Mysteries of the Island of Thaara
With summer almost over, it's time to turn to the comforts of home and what sustains us as the seasons change. This month, BooksfromScotland recommends the best in new Scottish writing - from memoir, social history and travel, to fiction, childrens' books and poetry - that celebrate these comforts, and will hopefully leave you feeling nourished and inspired.
Featuring:
In Edinburgh, August is a time where the city becomes a stage, and we invite the whole world to be our audience. Though this year's festivals have been cancelled, with some events migrating online, BooksfromScotland is still here to delight you with book recommendations that encompass the best things about our international festivals. We have drama, music, storytelling and spectacle on offer this month, so take your seats - it's time for curtain up!
Featuring:
A Musical Offering
David Robinson Reviews: Summer
Cassius X: A Legend in the Making
Antlers of Water
The Book According to…Doug Johnstone
The Lamplighter
Small Hours: The Long Night of John Martyn
Stories We Tell Ourselves
Edwin Morgan: Centenary Selected
Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers
Uncanny Bodies
All or Nothing at All: The Life of Billy Bland
Books - the most perfect bit of kit we've got. Whether you prefer audio, paperbacks or ePub files, in any time and in any place they can take you anywhere you want to go. You want laughs? Thrills? Knowledge? Reflection? Beauty? You'll get them all in a good book. So, as many of us will be taking time out our daily routines this month, BooksfromScotland are here, as ever, to recommend something special for you in your Time Out.
Featuring:
A Squatter o’ Bairnrhymes
Holiday Heart
The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce
Fin and Rye and Fireflies
Checkpoint: A Q & A with Joe Donnelly
Snooze
The Book According to . . . Sara Sheridan
Perfume Paradiso
David Robinson Interviews: Malcolm Alexander
Club Ded
One Button Benny and the Gigantic Catastrophe
Gears for Queers
Little Guy
There are many areas of Scotland where romance, adventure, history and beauty are taken as a given, but one area of Scotland that is quietly getting on with becoming a literary hot spot is the South West of Scotland. It has a historical pedigree not to be sniffed at, and a growing number of brilliant visitor attractions to tempt all visitors. This month we shine a light on the area's contemporary authors and places of interest, as well as pay tribute to those classic writers from the area who are already widely celebrated.
Featuring:
The Book According to . . . Denzil Meyrick
Confessions of a Bookseller
A Night Out With Burns
Finding Neverland: Moat Brae House
Thorfinn the Nicest Viking
Three Things You Should Know About Rockets: A Q & A with Jessica Fox
David Robinson Reviews: Native by Patrick Laurie
The Seafarers: A Journey Among Birds
All Hail Curly Tale!
Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water
We may have to spend more time in our houses just now, but that doesn't mean we have to forego treats, and this issue of BooksfromScotland is full of 'em. From fiction to cooking to nature, hobbies and football, we hope you'll find joy and inspiration, and a whole lot of good reading.
Featuring:
Wild Island: The Unremembered Places
The Nature of Summer
David Robinson Reviews: Blasted Things by Lesley Glaister
Deleted: A Q & A With Sylvia Hehir
Pockets of Pretty
The Book According to . . . Isla Dewar
Payback: Maggie & Wilma Return!
User Stories
Sisters of Berlin
More Than A Game
Ahead of Edwin Morgan's centenary on the 27th April 2020, we bring you a BooksfromScotland celebration of the great poet, playwright, essayist and translator. If you've not come across Edwin Morgan's work before, we hope this taster will inspire to discover more - and there's a lot of great work available! If you'd like to find out about the official Edwin Morgan Centenary events, which will be beginning on the 27th, please visit the Edwin Morgan Trust website.
Featuring:
It was Maya Angelou who said: 'If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going. I have respect for the past, but I'm a person of the moment. I'm here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I'm at, then I go forward to the next place.' Reading follows this philosophy, and in this issue of BooksfromScotland we recommend a variety of books that take us across time and space. From fiction, history and crime to anthologies and fresh, new voices, we've got an abundance of storytelling that could stand the test of time.
Featuring:
Radical Scotland
The Young Team
David Robinson Reviews: Hamnet by Maggie O’ Farrell
The Book According To…Sally Magnusson
LOTE
Blasted Things
Bobby March Will Live Forever: A Q & A with Alan Parks
The Unreliable Death of Lady Grange
Self-Portrait: The Eyes Within
The Medallion
What We Did In The Dark
Britain and the Bomb
The Black Flamingo
Kristian Kerr Reviews: The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
Celebrating VisitScotland's Year of Coasts and Waters, this issue brings you reading that takes you all around the country and may leave you gasping for breath! We have stories centred on myth and history, crime fiction centred round whisky, and a whole lot of love for Scotland's natural beauty. It's time to dive in!
Featuring:
The new year is often a time for reflection and planning. And if you're after reading recommendations for 2020, you've come to the right place. This month BooksfromScotland looks at new books and new talent in fiction, poetry, memoir and childrens' books, and there is a lot to get excited about. So, get cosy, settle down and discover some new books to while away the rest of the winter. It's the perfect way to look forward to the new year.
Featuring:
This full-to-bursting festive issue from BooksfromScotland is packed with great gift ideas for Christmas. Love fiction? Football? Film? Fashion? The great outdoors? Delicious recipes? Stunning coffee-table books? Don't worry, we've got you covered. So dive in, and we bet that soon you'll be crossing off everyone on your Christmas lists! And remember, whatever your literary indulgence, we hope you all have a fabulous festive break! x
Winter trees photograph by Donald Anderson
Featuring:
Christmas Poems from A Quickening
Tall Tales Tales and Wee Stories
Wintering: A Season with Geese
I Go Quiet
David Robinson Reviews: In Case of Any News by Kenneth Roy
The Secret Life of Tartan: How a Cloth Shaped a Nation
Charles Rennie Mackintosh in France
The World of Bond According to Smershpod
Two Winters and Three Summers on Lewis
Scotland’s Mountain Landscapes
The Secret Life of the Cairngorms
Something Delicious from Naturally Stefanie
Football’s Roads Less Travelled
Ship Models
66: The House That Viewed the World
Blessed Assurance
We bring you this issue just in time for this year's Book Week Scotland, which will run from 18th to the 24th November. Over the week there will be hundreds of events in bookshops, libraries, schools and other venues across Scotland, as well as publications, a digital festival, and writing campaigns. And as we love to talk about books here at BooksfromScotland, it suits us just fine that this year's theme for the celebrations is Blether. Here we bring you some great fiction, memoir, natural history and childrens' books guaranteed to to get a good conversation going.
Featuring:
Mo Shearmon – The Way I Talk, A Poem taken from New Writing Scotland
David Robinson Reviews: The Crown Agent & Death in the East
The Artie Conan Doyle Mysteries: A Q & A with Robert J. Harris
Lee Randall Reviews: This is Yesterday by Rose Ruane
The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven
‘Good Listeners’ by Brian Hamill
The Glasgow Effect
Even the Sparrow
Literary Devolutions
The Social Lives of Mongooses
As we say a goodbye to summer, it's time get a little bit comfy, a little bit cosy and settle down for some good reading. As ever, BooksfromScotland are happy to help with recommendations of the best new books in Scotland. We have a cracking selection here, taking in the finest fiction, childrens' books, travel, history, lifetstyle and poetry. So, come in from the chill and enjoy!
Featuring:
A good book often leaves you with a glint in your eye; you've seen the world in a new way and that is EXCITING. This month BooksfromScotland bring you the best in fiction, memoir, history, childrens' books, art and nature writing that we hope will enliven you, get your synapses snapping and generate fresh ideas.
Featuring:
David Robinson Reviews: This Golden Fleece
The Secret Life of Books
Surfacing
Scottish Art in an Age of Radical Change
The Boy With The Butterfly Mind
Cut and Paste
A HarperCollins History of Crime Fiction
The King Over The Water
Enigma
The Girl Who Lost Her Shadow
Kristian Kerr Reviews: To Calais, In Ordinary Time
August is the month where Edinburgh invites the world to the biggest party there is! Visitors and locals are spoiled with all kinds of entertainment, and BooksfromScotland are joining in with this month's issue, celebrating the city with some excellent new fiction, poetry, art and social commentary. And if you like your pleasures outside of the festival madness we've got some food, drink and nature to keep you going too.
Featuring:
Hopefully this month many of you will be packing your suitcases and heading off to wonderful destinations across the country and beyond, and you're going to need some good reading for your travels. If you're struggling to choose, let BooksfromScotland offer some recommendations of the best new releases in fiction, crime writing, YA, travel and picture books. You might need a bigger suitcase!
Featuring:
The Best of Crime Fiction 2019, So Far . . .
Alistair Braidwood Reviews: The Sound of the Hours by Karen Campbell
The Partisan Heart
The Bookshop on the Shore: A Q & A with Jenny Colgan
Finer Things
David Robinson Reviews: Books on Pilgrimages
A Proper Person to be Detained: A Q & A with Catherine Czerkawska
Alice Piotrowska Reviews: The Wind That Lays Waste
Inference
Finn the Little Seal
The Best in Young Adult Fiction in 2019, So Far . . .
Despite the weather (we're looking at a very rainy grey sky today), Scotland is a fabulous place to visit, and great to explore if you live here too. In this month's issue we take a look at books that celebrate our wonderful landscape, history and culture, with the best in memoir, travel writing and guides, folk tales, fiction and more. There's so much to enjoy on our doorstep, so we hope you take some inspiration for when summer does arrive . . .
Featuring:
Val McDermid’s Scotland
David Robinson Reviews: Big Sky by Kate Atkinson
Carla Sassi Reviews: The Burning Glass – The Life of Naomi Mitchison
The Honours of Scotland
Kristian Kerr Reviews: My Name is Monster by Katie Hale
Aspects of Edinburgh
Just Another Mountain
The Fife Pilgrim Way
An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Castle Legends
Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland
Rediscovering: Dorothy Dunnett
Walking Scotland’s Lost Railways
Where the Bridge Lies
Hutton’s Arse: Extraordinary Geology
West
The Pubs of Perth and Kinross
Auntie Robbo
The beauty of reading is that it can take you anywhere, and make anything possible. In this month's issue, let BooksfromScotland take you to a variety of places and times with the best fiction, travel writing, memoir, sci-fi and childrens books. Whether you want to change the world or travel widely in it (and beyond!), we hope you find something here to enjoy.
Featuring:
The Unnatural Death of a Jacobite: Douglas Watt Q & A
Lee Randall Interviews: Denise Mina
The Doll Factory
David Robinson Reviews: Malachy Tallack and Robert Alan Jamieson
Hard Pushed: A Q & A with Leah Hazard
This Script
Nakedness
Guardians of Wild Unicorns
‘A Short History of Migration in Five Fragments of You’: A Short Story from Incomplete Solutions by Wole Talabi
World Heritage Canal: Thomas Telford and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
The Space Between Time
Saving Francesca Maier: In Berlin
April starts with a day of jokes and sees us through the first moments of spring. It's such an uplifting time of the year and the perfect moment for BooksfromScotland to share books that can inspire a belly laugh as well promote a healthy, happy connection to everyone and everything around us. So kick off your shoes and enjoy our recommendations of the best in new fiction as well as nature, childrens, humour and spiritual books.
Featuring:
Lee Randall Reviews: You Will be Safe Here by Damian Barr
Travels with a Stick
The Posthumous Adventures of Harry Whittaker
The Nature of Spring
The Lord of the Grins
The Gin Clan: Scottish Gins and Distilleries
Field with a view
The Easternmost House
David Robinson Reviews: Tiger by Polly Clark
The Accidental Social Entrepreneur
The Case of the Vanishing Granny
Spring is just around the corner! It's the time when we're ready to venture outdoors again, and yet still have the urge (especially with our infamous Scottish weather) to stay cosy and coorie in. In this month's issue we celebrate nature's bounty as well as our home comforts with great fiction, memoirs, cookery, travel and childrens' books. Dive in and enjoy!
Featuring:
Overlander
The Whale, The Sea and the Stars
David Robinson Reviews: The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Reid
Seasonal Soups
On the Ocean: Mandy Haggith on The Amber Seeker
The Animal Adventure Club: The Baby Deer Rescue
Welcome to the Heady Heights
All Creatures Great and Small with Little Door Books
Love. It's all we need, isn't it? And books, obviously. Books that celebrate all kinds of love and help us through heartache. Books that bring us together and tell us we're not alone. We have plenty of those to share with you here in Heart Notes, the latest issue from BooksfromScotland. Whether you're in the mood for romance, family, community, and all those things that make our heart beat a little faster, I hope you find something here to enjoy.
Featuring:
‘Sequins’
Stroke
Shadowscent: The Darkest Bloom
Salt on Your Tongue: Women and the Sea
Painted Ladies: Bonnard and his Mistresses
Outcasts
Muscle
I Could Feel Vulnerable in Love: A Human Love Story
The Accidental Novelist: The Bookshop by the Sea series
If You Forget Everything Else, Remember This
Flight from the Croft
Down to the Sea
David Robinson Reviews: Threads of Life by Clare Hunter
‘A Divorcee’s Guide to the Apocalypse’ A story taken from Split
It's UNESCO's International Year of Indigenous Languages, so BooksfromScotland had to kick off 2019 with a celebration of one of ours - Scots! We have all kinds of Scots in this issue, from modern urban, to traditional, to Doric, all expressed in many ways and in many genres. We've got poetry, childrens' books, short stories, social history and nature writing, all showing just how versatile and expressive Scots can be. So, lend us yer een an' yer lugs, an' enjoy this issue.
Featuring:
What a bumper issue we have for you this festive month! We have gift giving recommendations from every kind of book genre, from fiction to cookery to illustrated books, biographies, crafts, poetry and so much more, so there's really no excuse not to get yourselves to your nearest bookshop to kick start your Christmas gift shopping. We also take a look at the Icelandic festive tradition of Jólabókaflóðið which sees the country giving the gift of books each year to be read on Christmas Eve. Something to adopt here in Scotland? Yes, please! Whatever you read over these dark winter months, BooksfromScotland would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. x
Featuring:
Laura Waddell Reviews: The Little Snake
Christmas in Shetland
Christmas in the Bookshop
The Dog That Saved Christmas
Elma the Elf and the Tinsel-Tastic Sled Zeppelin
I Ran With The Gang: Alan Longmuir Remembers
David Robinson Reviews: Hummingbirds Between the Pages
Local Hero: Richard Hannay Returns!
Dear Mr Murray: Letters to a Gentleman Publisher
Keep Calm and Coorie In!
Beerjacket’s Silver Cords
MCSTAPE
Drinks for Christmas? 101 Champagnes!
What is Jolabokaflod?
Merry Christmas from Floris Books!
Embroidered Stories
This month sees the Scottish Book Trust's Book Week Scotland Rebel celebrations, running from the 19th - 25th November. With hundreds of events in bookshops, libraries, schools and other venues across Scotland, as well as publications, a digital festival, and writing campaigns, it's the ideal time to take a literary walk on the wild side. So, we have decided to bring you a rabble-rousing issue of BooksfromScotland too, to showcase the best of Scottish subversion, from all walks of life; from history to the present day. We'll be posting more features onto the BooksfromScotland website throughout the month - keep your eyes peeled!
And if you want to get involved in Book Week Scotland yourself, visit the website: www.scottishbooktrust.com.
Featuring:
The Women who Shaped Scotland’s History
Between Daylight and Hell: Scotland’s Villains
Harlem 69: The Music Behind the Politics
It’s Only the End of the World
Why We Should Still Pay Attention to John Maclean
Three Kinds of Kissing
For The Good Times
The Scottish Clearances: The Galloway Levellers
For Every One
Catalonia Reborn
October sees the international publishing world gather together in one city - Frankfurt - to celebrate writing, publishing and storytelling, to make new friends and contacts, and to share in the excitement in what's happening around the world. Scotland will be well represented by its publishers, and, as ever, passing on the best of our own stories.
To celebrate Scotland's international outlook, we've gathered together fiction, non-fiction and poetry that show Scotland inspired by the rest of the world and taking us to new places - real and imagined - that leave us enriched, enlivened and entertained.
Featuring:
Translating Latin America: Spotlight on Charco Press
David Robinson Reviews: Love is Blind by William Boyd
Gemmano
‘The Story of my Heart’: A short story from Steam Punk Writers Around the World
The Janus Run: A Q & A With Douglas Skelton
Nameless Country: Selected Poems of AC Jacobs
Dune Song
Pin-Ups: Toulouse Lautrec and the Art of Celebrity
Alasdair Gray’s Hell
Cover Stories: Muriel Spark Centenary Editions
After the revels of the summer and before preparing for the winter festive season is the time to step back, take a breath, and enjoy home, hearth and friends. Once again, we take comfort in the familiar and get back to a routine. For many, this change to autumn is a favourite time of the year and the perfect time to introduce yourself to new books.
In this month's issue we've gathered together a selection of titles that celebrate the wonder of the seasons and remind us that despite Tolstoy's famous quote 'Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,' we wouldn't be without them.
Featuring:
As the Women Lay Dreaming
Who Built Scotland? James Robertson Remembers
Fishnet Returns: An Interview with Kirstin Innes
‘Amber’ – A Short Story taken from New Writing Scotland
The Sound of Iona
A Scots Dictionary of Nature
The Last Wolf
Into the Peatlands: A Journey Through the Moorland Year
Edinburgh is THE festival city in August, as the whole city centre and beyond is taken over by shows, performances, installations, readings, acts, comedy, and of course, books. The tented village of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 11-27 August, spreads out into the commercial centre of George Street once again this year as the main theme – Freedom to think, freedom to write – threads itself around and about the 1000+ sessions.
We present here a tiny selection of the feast of arts, culture, entertainment, thought and fun on offer, inspired by books, and here’s a reminder of the other August festivals -
• The Edinburgh Art Festival 26 July-26 Aug
• The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 3-25 Aug
• Edinburgh International Festival 3-27 Aug
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe 3-27 Aug
• Beyond Borders International Festival 25/26 Aug
• Edinburgh Comic Art Festival 12 Aug
Featuring:
Wilderness Wars
Bookfestival- opoly and Other Bookish Games
David Robinson Reviews: Sugar Money by Jane Harris
Bringing a Local Story to the World Stage
Rembrandt: Britain’s Discovery of the Master
Edinburgh on Foot: apps, maps and books
A Few Rich Pickings from this Year’s Festivals
David Robinson Writes: Book Festivals
We think summer is one of the loveliest words in the English language. In the publishing calendar it can often mean a pause, a chance to catch-up with reading that’s been put on hold during the rest of the year. Here’s our selection of titles to accompany the lighter nights and some well-deserved downtime. This summer, as t-samhradh in Scots Gaelic, simmer in Scots – whatever it’s called in your part of the country - enjoy our issue.
Featuring:
Maggie’s Monsters
We’re All Going On A Super Scotland Summer Holiday
Summer Grasses
Tweed Dales
Memory and Straw
St Kilda: The Silent Islands
Lost Objects
Rip it up: The story of Scottish pop
Shapeshifters: On Medicine and Human Change
A Handbook of Scotland’s Coasts
The Posy Ring
Canals across Scotland
Halcyon in the Hebrides
A perfect keepsake for your summer events
David Robinson Reviews: Kirsty Gunn’s new novel Caroline’s Bikini
Heart Fire by Johannes Hartl
The recent trend in what is loosely called nature writing looks set to continue. Robert MacFarlane in his essay, ‘why we need nature writing’, published in the New Statesman on 2 September 2015, argues that the very phrase “nature writing” has become a cant phrase, branded and bandied out of any useful existence”, and he would be “glad to see its deletion from the current discourse”. He goes on to say: “Yet it is clear that in Britain we are living through a golden age of literature that explores relations between selfhood, landscape and ethics and addresses what Mabey has described as the “growing fault line in the way we perceive and talk about nature”.”
As populations worldwide become more urban and the flight from the country more pronounced, there does seem to be a growing need to celebrate landscape, flora and fauna, and as McFarlane says, to insert the personal into nature. With that in mind, here is our nature issue of 2018.
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Spanning fiction and non-fiction and journeying from Canada to Nigeria, Bangladesh to France, Russia to Scotland and more, in the month of International Women's Day and Women's History Month, we highlight stories of, and by, remarkable women around the world.
What international women are you reading about at the moment? Let us know via email or by tweeting @scottishbooks.
Featuring:
Diplomatic Protocol
International Women’s Day and the Russian Revolution
Rose’s Dress of Dreams
Die, My Love: Prize-Nominated New Writing
It Takes A Lifetime To Be Yourself
Gender Identity and Sexuality in Fantasy and Science Fiction
The Brick Lane Cookbook
The Growing Season
Time’s Witnesses: Women’s Voices from the Holocaust
Suffragist Artists in Partnership: Gender, Word and Image
Miss Blaine’s Prefect And The Golden Samover
Audio Extract: Stay With Me
On Starlit Seas
Eulalie’s Journey to Algonquin
Bump, Bike and Baby Q&A
What International Women’s Day means to Floris Books
Why We Still Love Kathleen Fidler
Introducing Two New Vagabond Voices
20 February marks the UN World Day of Social Justice. The UN defines social justice as 'an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations'. This Issue responds to this pertinent theme by highlighting key social and political issues including poverty, suffragettes, the Black Lives Matter movement, Brexit, the importance of ensuring access to books and libraries for all, slavery, and more.
Featuring:
Alan Dapré on Books and a Childhood in Care Institutions
Those Who Show Up by Andy Flannagan
A Manifesto for Post-Brexit Britain by Phil Anderson
Theresa Breslin on Libraries and Community
Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey
Until We Win: A Suffragette Story for Teens
The Sealwoman’s Gift: David Robinson Reviews
Hari and His Electric Feet
The Myth of UK Integration
Frederick Douglass: Slavery and Scotland
Wojnarowicz’s Activist Artistry
Kick-start your 2018 reading with stories that explore the theme of beginnings. This Issue features captivating children's books, bloody new Glasgow crime, historical podcasts, bold international fiction, young adult novels, pioneering art and more.
It's already shaping up to be a brilliant year for book lovers; let us know what you're most looking forward to reading via email or our social media.
Featuring:
Writing On The Road
MacSonnetries by Petra Reid
Freethinker’s Footsteps Podcast
Fireflies
Smile: The Original Mona Lisa
Home Game: The Homeless World Cup
David Robinson Reviews: Bloody January
Artful Eating with Karina Melvin
The Walrus Mutterer
How Billy Hippo Learned To Swim
Southerly Adventures
Victoria Williamson: Writing Diverse Characters
HarperCollins: Archiving 200 years of Publishing and Community
Phoebe Anna Traquair
Glowglass Q&A: Cults, Porridge, Poison
The Road to Givenchy: The Story Behind the Story
Planning to gift books to friends and family for Christmas but need some inspiration? Then look no further as we've got it covered. Our Issue spans Christmassy crime, nature writing, stories in Scots, award-winning novels, bold translated fiction, epic adventuring across continents, cookery and much more. With books to suit all tastes across non-fiction, fiction, and children's publishing, all that remains to be said is merry Christmas. We wish you happy yuletide gifting and reading!
Featuring:
Memory And Straw
Exploring The Great Horizon
Translating The Twal Days o Yule
The Full Bhoona: History, Memories and Recipes
Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz
Introducing Scottish Modernist Art
Running South America with Katharine Lowrie
Present Tense: Crime and Christmas
Nip Nebs: A Scots Jack Frost Story
Don’t Look Down by Roger Chisholm
What Is ‘Moon Gardening’ Anyway?
William Hardie’s Life In Art
I Killed Father Christmas: An Artwork Showcase
Huw Kingston On Circumnavigating The Mediterranean
The Sweet Pea Man
Slum Virgin by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
Knit Your Own Scotland
Half Of Glasgow’s Gone
GeoBritannica: On People and Landscape
Inspired by Jolabokaflod, the Icelandic tradition of thoughtful book gifting at Christmas, we’re celebrating Nordic-Scottish literary links for Book Week Scotland 2017.
ScotBookFlood echoes the recent Arctic Circle Forum in Edinburgh, at which First Minister Nicola Sturgeon emphasised the importance of continuing to forge strong relationships between Scotland and its northern neighbours.
In this special Issue we explore the origins of Jolabokaflod, Edinburgh and Reykjavik as UNESCO literary cities, Scandinavian folklore, post-Brexit politics, and more. We also feature Nordic festive cocktail recipes to be enjoyed while a reading good book, and we're launching two fantastic giveaways.
Join in and tell us what Scottish books you're gifting to family and friends this Christmas with the hashtags #ScotBookFlood, #BookWeekScotland and @scottishbooks.
Featuring:
A Scottish Gin Cocktail Inspired By Iceland
Scotland Celebrates Jolabokaflod
David Robinson Reviews: The Passion Of Harry Bingo
Solitude, Swimming and Sheep by Kirsty Logan
Glogi (Mulled Wine) Recipe
Edinburgh and Reykjavik: A Tale of Two Cities of Literature
Matt Haig: Father Christmas Q&A
What Publishers Are Gifting For Christmas
Northern Literary Lights
McSmörgåsbord: Nordic Post-Brexit Learnings For Scotland
Our Halloween-themed Issue presents spooky, spiritual and supernatural stories across fiction and non-fiction, for adults, children and young adults. Exploring classic and new takes on doppelganger and vampire tales, highlighting the spiritual origins of Halloween, and with much more including witchcraft, provocative contemporary art, and ghostly goings-on, the books featured here will have you looking over your shoulder the next time you're alone on a dark and misty night...
Featuring:
David Robinson Reviews: The Accident on the A35
Kay Carmichael On Halloween, Life and Death
Luminous Dark
God Inside Out
The Twa Corbies of Cardross
The President’s Room
In the Valley of the Sun
Juno Dawson’s Grave Matter
Supernatural Scotland
Ian Rankin’s Sinner: Justified
Ruby McCracken’s Guide To The Ordinary World
The Last Days of James Scythe
Hogg’s The Devil I Am Sure
To author Albert Camus, autumn is 'a second spring where every leaf is a flower'. Featuring new books across fiction, non-fiction and children's, this special bumper Issue showcases the abundant new publishing in the second spring of 2017. So pop the kettle on and enjoy...
Featuring:
David Robinson Writes: On Moscow Calling
Road Ending: A New Writing Scotland Short Story
Lari Don: A Season of Endings
A Taste Of Scotland’s Gins
Introducing New Graphic Novel Tomorrow
Lighthouse Murder: Life And Death On Little Ross
Scotland’s Early Silver
The Monarch Of The Glen
Mint Choc Chip at the Market Café
A Kist o Skinklan Things
The Whisky Dictionary Q&A
A Land Girl’s Tale
Maggie’s Mittens
A New Era: Scottish Modern Art 1900-1950
William MacGillivray: Travels With A Hebridean Naturalist
Who is Illustrator Kasia Matyjaszek?
A Last Wild Place
The Magic And Misery Of Glassmaking In Scotland
Making the Punch Book Trailer
From Darkness to Eastering
Aboard The Red Gauntlet With Captain Bobo
In the month of the Edinburgh International Book Festival and Publishing Scotland's International Fellowship Programme, we highlight Scotland's significant place on the global publishing map. Celebrating the far-reaching impact and influence of Scotland's publishers and authors, we present a selection of books spanning fiction, non-fiction, and poetry across languages and time zones.
Featuring:
Illustrating Scotland: Showcasing International Illustration in the UK
Translating Closer to Home
Glimpses Of The Middle East
Writing Out To The World
I Loved A German
Rediscovering Škėma From The Diaspora
Interview with Estelle Maskame
SS Kursk: The Crystal of the Tsar
Love and the Afterlife with Claire McFall
Celebrating Scotland's history and cultural heritage from the Highlands to the Lowlands, this bumper Issue marks 2017 as Visit Scotland's Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology. Travel back in time via insight into the Jacobites, the Celts, the Picts and Enlightenment Edinburgh, and find out about pioneers in industry and culture. For readers with more literary tastes, we preview two forthcoming books featuring stories by top authors inspired by the country's rich - and sometimes dark - built heritage...
Featuring:
#HHA: Making Scottish History Fun for Children
A Pilgrim’s Guide to Iona Abbey
Exploring Archaeology in Caithness
British Monarchs & History in Coins
Politics, Potions and Pamphlets in 17th Century Edinburgh by Heather Richardson
Preston Watson: Dundee’s Pioneer Aviator
Hidden Heritage: The Duart Castle Shipwreck
Whose Heritage Is It Anyway? Asks Ian Davidson
Bonnie Prince Charlie & the Jacobites
Mousa Broch: Stone Mother by Kathleen Jamie
Highland Survivor: The Story of the Far North Line
The Beginnings of Celtic History
Introducing New Book Bloody Scotland
Conceiving A Nation: Scotland to 900 AD
The Beast On The Broch
Enlightenment Edinburgh: David Robinson Reviews
A Perfect Chemistry Q&A
Inspired by World Environment Day, the UN initiative in June which aims to connect people with nature, our new Issue celebrates this special synthesis. Set sail on the high seas with Greenpeace, search for elusive summer snows, encounter tigers in the wild, explore nature in the Cairngorms, visit Jessie Kesson's rural Aberdeenshire, learn about the psychological benefits of woodland and discover the ecology of Scotland's varied environments.
Featuring:
This Issue presents a selection of books and authors to see at various summer festivals in Scotland and elsewhere. Featuring something for everyone - crime writing, family drama, thrillers, travel writing, Shakespeare, new books for children and young adults, and more - all you need to do is read on with your diary to hand, and hope that the sun shines...
Featuring:
Taking Hamlet World Wide
The Bookshop Detective
His Bloody Project
Truestory
Good News, Bad News
David Robinson Writes: On Chris Dolan’s Crime Writing
The Damselfly
Introducing One Button Benny
The Giant Who Snored
Barbara Henderson’s Love Of Book Festivals
Dìoghaltas
Kaite Welsh’s Literary Edinburgh
Purrfectly Poised and Prepped for Festival Season
Cathy MacPhail: Teen Queen
This Issue shines a spotlight on books for children and young adults. Featuring vivid and memorable voices across fiction, poetry, music and design, this Issue takes you through history, across continents, into fantastical otherworlds and even outer space!
Featuring:
This Issue marks the arrival of springtime with a focus on nature and the great Scottish outdoors. Featuring wildlife and walking routes in the Highlands, Hebridean islands and elsewhere, you can also explore Scotland's lost gardens and the influence of nature on Scottish storytelling. To quote Margaret Atwood 'in the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt', so if you venture out inspired by what you've read here perhaps you'll return home smelling of soil with a snowdrop or two in your pocket...
Featuring:
Gods Of The Morning: Highland Wildlife
Golden Eagle Spotting With Dave Walker
Exploring The Whangie’s Wildlife
Sreathan anns a’ Ghainmhich
Growing Up On A Highland Farm
The Lure Of Snowdrops
Nature, Naturally by Jenni Daiches
Writing Nature Through Verse by Louise Greig
David Robinson Reviews: Larchfield by Polly Clark
This Issue explores politics past and present, art as activism, urban and rural regeneration, Scottish history and more. Spanning poetry, non-fiction, fiction, and children's, this varied Issue highlights some of the many profound shifts, in thought and in practice, that humankind has continually undergone. Where will we go next?
Featuring:
Tartan Tales: The Story Behind Black Watch
David Robinson Writes: On Wojnarowicz’s Activist Artistry
On Writing and Feminism: Triona Scully
From Annan to Zinkeisen: Scottish Women Painters and Sculptors
Errant Blood
Singing History: Speed Bonnie Boat
A Petrol Scented Spring
George MacLeod: Founder Of The Iona Community
Putting the ‘R’ in Evolution
Radical Regeneration: Cities In Victorian Scotland
Creating Freedom
Finding Hope In The Dark
Enter The Jungle
An Cuilithionn | The Cuillin
The Memoirs of The Last Grand Duchess of Russia
Harper Lee famously wrote that 'You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.' Presenting diverse realms of experience spanning politics, prejudice, pregnancy, poverty and more, this Issue showcases an array of strong and vibrant voices.
Featuring:
Radhika Swarup Q&A
David Robinson Reviews: Dalila by Jason Donald
The Blind Man of Hoy
A’ Toirt Mo Chasan Leam
Mongol: Journeying from Prejudice to Belonging
404 Ink: Publishing Nasty Women
Expecting: Pregnancy’s Inner Life Explored
From India to Edinburgh with Bashabi Fraser
Cathy MacPhail Asks ‘Where Were the Working Class Heroes?’
Inspired by Jólabókaflóð, the unique Icelandic tradition of gifting books on Christmas Eve to be read that night, this Issue presents a selection of stories across fiction, non-fiction, and children's. If you're looking for ideas for books to give - on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day - then we've got it covered.
Featuring:
Catology
Hello, My Name Is…
Scots Who Left a Stain on American History
Christmas Stories by Matt Haig
Scotland’s Landscapes: Coastlines
Alexander McCall Smith’s Edinburgh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh In France
Recovering Scotland’s Slavery Past
Hogg’s Highland Journeys and Mine
12 Days O Yule
We’re Gangin On A Bear Hunt
The Importance of Fairy Tales
Upbeat: Iraq’s National Youth Orchestra
The Making Of An Art Adventure
Q&A with Michelle Sloan
Buy Buy Baby
Presenting a selection of books to intrigue, inform, and inspire, this Issue is the perfect antidote to November's darkening days. With stories across fiction, non-fiction, and children's there's truly something for everyone.
Featuring:
David Robinson Writes: On The Saltire Awards Non Fiction Shortlist
A History of Diabetes
Joan Eardley’s Life & Work
Whisky Island: A Visual Tour of Islay
Banais na Bliadhna
If I Could Tell You Just One Thing…
Light On Dumyat
The Story of Cardross Seminary
George McCluskey: Playing For The Hoops
The Bogeyman Chronicles
The Story Cure
Fallow
Let your imagination take flight as we embark on a journey through air, sea, outer space, spiritualism, and the surreal world of art and dreams.
Featuring:
Ross MacKenzie’s Top 5 Sea-themed Books
Little Terry Tiddlemouse
The Making of Mickey Bell
A Happy Little Island
Last Voyage to Wewak
The Small Isles: Canna, Eigg, Muck & Rum
David Robinson Writes: On Nautical Publishing
If The Corncrake Calls
Searching for Comets
Great Faith: The Highland Church 1690-1900
To author Albert Camus, autumn is 'a second spring where every leaf is a flower'. Featuring the best books across fiction, non-fiction and children's, this special Issue showcases the abundant new publishing in this second spring. To mark the month of Bloody Scotland we also present some tartan noir that's perfect for the darkening nights...
Featuring:
Lighthouse Pioneers: The Stevensons in Orkney and Shetland
Cleghorn: Forester, Laird & Collector Extraordinaire
Lari Don Reads from The Beginner’s Guide to Curses
St Kilda: Last and Outmost Isle
Rabbit Warren Peace
David Robinson Writes: On Bloody Scottish Crime
Present Tense
In The Devil’s Name
Rhenigidale: A Community’s Fight For Survival
From Scotland To Tibet
In this Issue you'll find a diverse selection of stories about journeying close to home and further afield through the past, present, and future. We explore Ethiopian culinary delights, football matches abroad, time travel, surfing, international art, the Scottish coast and Hebridean islands, writing from a campervan in France, and literary walks and pilgrimages.
Featuring:
David Robinson Writes: On Pilgrimages
Writing on the Route
Q&A on Surfing with Jonathan Bennett
Ethiopian Vegetarian Recipe and Chef Q&A
Arthur Melville’s Adventures In Colour
An Introduction to Scotland’s Coasts
Walking With James Hogg
Poetry from the Iona Community
Writing a New Chapter for Scottish International Football
This highly visual Issue celebrates innovation by past and present pioneers across architecture and design in Scotland and elsewhere. The very best of sculpture and architecture, a translated graphic novel, interactive maps, fiction, and an interview appear alongside internationally revered art and design icons.
Featuring:
Your Country Needs You: The Secret History of the Propaganda Poster
Site Works
Arrivals and Sailings: The Making of George Wyllie
The Secret Lives of Buildings
St Peter’s, Cardross: Birth, Death and Renewal
Alpha: Abidjan to Gare du Nord
The Kelpies: Making the World’s Largest Equine Sculptures
The Amazing World of M.C. Escher
Scotstyle: 100 Years of Scottish Architecture
Fallen Glory
From Nordic noir to history, from music to gastronomy, we've got something to suit all tastes in this timely Issue. Published ahead of the EU Referendum, we highlight the decision the UK will make to leave or remain while taking you through the continent stopping off in Italy, Denmark, France, Finland, Greece, and Norway.
Featuring:
Take a tour of Scotland through the words of the people who have known and loved its wild places, from practical guides to insightful histories, from moving meditations to poetic tributes.
Featuring:
Art as defiance. Music as an untold narrative. Love as an act of belief. The stories in this issue represent the work of mothers and painters, poets and prostitutes, suffragettes and the High Priestess of Soul. It's an issue about complex women, women whose stories have, with irreducible individuality, reinvented tradition, championed diversity and contributed to a difficult but essential legacy. In honour of International Women's Day, here in Scotland we celebrate the stories of women around the world.
Featuring:
This issue celebrates love: love of landscape, language, texture and verse. It celebrates the gracefulness of the mundane and the challenge of beauty. Enjoy some of Scotland's finest poetry.
Featuring:
A few of Scotland's finest artists, musicians, poets and writers come together to re-imagine the famed words of the Bard of Ayrshire, and to give testament to his ongoing legacy.
Featuring:
The old year is coming to a close. Put another log on the fire, and join us as we remember some of the oldest stories about who we are. From tales of selkies and fairies and witches, to myths around women's bodies, from old Arabian nights reimagined with a uniquely modern, Scottish twist, to some of the most fantastic creatures populating our imaginary landscape, this is a Christmas celebration about who we are as storytellers, and about everything we ever imagined we could be.
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This HOMEGROWN issue is chock full of personal recipes shared by Scottish authors and publishers, and alongside each recipe is a little anecdote from the author. We’re delighted to be able to break bread with you, and share a few of the personalities and stories we’ve come to love. You’ll recognise a few faces, such as Sue Lawrence, Anne Donovan and the Wee Lassie who swallowed a midgie, but we also hope you’ll discover something brand new. And, if you’re taken with any of the books or recipes you find here, why not check out our publishers’ websites?
HOMEGROWN is part of Book Week Scotland, a national celebration of books and reading.
Featuring:
From Craig Russell to Val McDermid, from the underbelly of Glasgow to the wilds of the Isle of Lewis, take a tour of Scottish crime - but watch your step.
Featuring:
The Cunning House
Mary Paterson, or, The Fatal Error
The Essential Guide to Scottish Crime Fiction
Author Top Ten: Christopher Brookmyre
Recipe from Val McDermid
Lin Anderson Talks to BFS
Doug Johnstone on Writing Edinburgh
Contraband
Penance
William McIlvanney in Conversation
From the Edinburgh International Book Festival to Parisian recipes, we want to take you on a city break in books this summer.
Featuring:
Welcome to our new look website. We're delighted to be back online and look forward to bringing our readers all the latest in books from Scotland.
Featuring:
V&A Dundee
A Man Passing Through by Gordon Jarvie
Fig, Gorgonzola and Rocket Tart
Aye Write! 2015
A Taste of Scots
Beauty Tips for Girls by Margaret Montgomery
Barn Owl by Jim Crumley
Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award – Claire Squires
When is an author not an author? When she’s an illustrator…
Mixing the Colours
Pub Dogs of Glasgow
The Going Down of the Sun
40 Years of Publishing in Scotland
Gods of the Morning by John Lister-Kaye
Beyond the Borders
Dear Green Sounds Introduction
Go on an Island Hopping Adventure
Potter’s Field by Chris Dolan
The Two Roberts