We believe in books… the kind you keep, return to, and quietly recommend to others. Scottish writing, in all its voices and from wherever it’s written, matters to us. We don’t use affiliate links or take commission. That’s intentional. It means every book we share is chosen because we think it deserves a place here. If you’re a Scottish writer, wherever you are in the world, or if you’re living and writing in Scotland, we’d be very glad to hear from you. Send us a message through our contact form with a link to your book. We’ll take the time to look at it properly and consider it with care.
Glasgow Boys
Author: Margaret McDonald
2024
Margaret McDonald is a Scottish author who lives in Glasgow. Her debut novel Glasgow Boys published in May 2024. She has also been published in the poetry and prose magazines The Manifest Station, In Parentheses, Breath and Shadow, Bandit Fiction and Bubble Lit Mag. She is a first-generation student and holds an MLitt with Distinction in English Literature from Glasgow University and a First-Class B.A (Hons) in Creative Writing with English Literature from Strathclyde University. She writes about the working class experience, the student experience and the Scottish healthcare system as a former NHS employee and disabled author.
Glendarragh Code
Author: Lisa Marie Heitman-Bruce
2024
Lisa Marie Heitman-Bruce was born on the remote island of Kodiak, Alaska, and is a member of the Sun’aq Tribe. Now based in Scotland, she leads Fairytale Agency Limited, a boutique marketing consultancy. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), a member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), and a creative & marketing judge for the International Stevie Awards.
Groundwater
Author: Thomas McMullan
2025
Thomas McMullan is a Glasgow-born writer, journalist, and narrative designer based in London. His work spans fiction, poetry, theatre, and video games, alongside journalism for outlets such as The Guardian, TLS, BBC News, frieze, and ArtReview. His short stories and poetry have appeared in Granta, 3:AM Magazine, Best British Short Stories, and other journals. Beyond literature, he was lead narrative designer on Rollerdrome, which won the 2023 BAFTA for Best British Game. A winner of the 2021 Betty Trask Prize, he is also a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at King’s College London.
How To Kill A Witch
Author: Claire Mitchell & Zoe Venditozzi
2025
Zoe Venditozzi grew up in North East Fife in Scotland and attended the University of Glasgow to study English. Following stints as letters editor at The People's Friend and selling answer phones at BT, Zoe qualified as an English teacher in New Zealand in 1999. Shortly after she moved back to Scotland where she started a family, worked in various schools and gained a Masters in Writing from the University of Dundee. After publishing her debut novel, "Anywhere's Better Than Here", Zoe kept teaching (in lots of settings including schools, universities, museums, libraries, children's homes and on the HMS Unicorn) and also became a writer in residence at Roxburgh House in Aberdeen and Reader in Residence for Dundee Libraries. Zoe joined Claire Mitchell KC on the Witches of Scotland campaign in 2020 and has co hosted 70+ podcasts episodes of the same name. Since then, Claire and Zoe have worked hard to redress the historical wrong of thousands of people being accused and many executed, for being witches. Claire and Zoe's book, "How to Kill a Witch - a Guide for the Patriarchy" will be published in May 2025. Zoe still writes fiction and is particulary interested in death, psychic phenomena and the horrors of womanhood.
Muckle Flugga
Author: Michael Pedersen
2025
Michael Pedersen is a prize-winning Scottish poet and author, the Writer in Residence at The University of Edinburgh and the current Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate). He’s published three acclaimed collections of poetry, his most recent, The Cat Prince & Other Poems, won Best Poetry 2023 at the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards. His prose debut, Boy Friends, was published by Faber & Faber in 2022 to rave reviews and was a Sunday Times Critics Choice. Pedersen has been shortlisted for the Forward Prizes Poetry and the Saltire Scottish National Book Awards, and has won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. His work has attracted praise from the likes of Stephen Fry, Kae Tempest, Irvine Welsh, Shirley Manson, Maggie Smith, Nicola Sturgeon, Jackie Kay and many more. He also co-founded the prize-winning literary collective Neu! Reekie!.
Night Train to Odesa
Author: Jen Stout
2025
Jen Stout is a journalist, writer, and radio producer from Scotland, frequently working in Ukraine. Originally from Shetland she has lived in Germany and Russia. Her empathetic and vivid coverage on the deportations in Kharkiv region was shortlisted for an Amnesty Media Award. Her first book, Night Train to Odesa, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and won the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award.
Scotland’s Clans And Their Tartans
Author: Ian Grimble
2025
Ian Grimble was a distinguished British historian, author and television producer, best known for his works on Scottish history and culture. His deep passion for Scotland was evident not only in his writing but also in his work on documentaries that brought Scottish history to a broader audience. His contributions have left a lasting impact on the understanding of Scottish identity and history.
The Malt Whisky Murders
Author: Natalie Jayne Clark
2025
Natalie Jayne Clark is a neurodivergent writer, editor and producer based in Perth. Natalie writes for SNACK Magazine, is the Assistant Producer for StAnza Poetry Festival, and works across the arts and culture industry in a variety of roles. Her poetry can be found in anthologies from Flapjack Press, Speculative Books, and Open Book, and she has won several poetry slams. She is also a certified whisky ambassador and is partial to a Springbank or a Bruichladdich.
The Mourning Necklace
Author: Kate Foster
2025
Kate Foster worked as a national newspaper journalist for more than twenty years before becoming an author. Growing up in Edinburgh, she became fascinated by its history and often uses it as inspiration for her stories. Her previous novels include The Maiden, which won the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The King’s Witches. The Mourning Necklace is her third novel. She lives in Edinburgh with her two children.
The River
Author: Craig A. Smith
2025
Craig Smith lives on the edge (of Edinburgh) with his wife and children. In a former life he was a musician with a couple of NME Singles of the Week to his name. In this life, his spare bass gathers dust in a corner while his Fender Precision left to begin a new life in Marseilles. His debut novel The Mile (Pilrig Press) was published to much acclaim in 2013. An alumni of the Faber Academy, he continues to write about Scotland, Scottishness, and Scots, and hopes one day he might live in a normal country. Preferably Scotland.