Birlinn (publisher)

Birlinn Limited is an independent publishing house based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1992 by managing director Hugh Andrew.

Imprints
Birlinn Limited is composed of a number of imprints, including:


 * Birlinn, which publishes Scottish interest books, from biography to history, military history and Scottish Gaelic. (Its name comes from the old Norse word birlinn, meaning a long boat or small galley with 12 to 18 oars, used especially in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland in the Middle Ages. )
 * Polygon Books, which publishes literary fiction and poetry, both classic and modern, from Scottish writers such as Robin Jenkins, George Mackay Brown, and the author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith. It was founded in the late 1960s by students of the University of Edinburgh.
 * Mercat Press, founded in 1970 and acquired by Birlinn in 2007, which publishes walking and climbing guides. (Mercat is the Scots language word for "market" or "trade". )
 * John Donald, publishing academic books about Scotland.

Notable authors and works

 * Alexander McCall Smith
 * Love in the Time of Bertie (2021)
 * The People's City (2022)
 * Martin C. Strong
 * The Great Folk Discography, Vol. 1: Pioneers & Early Legends (2010)
 * The Great Folk Discography, Vol. 2: The Next Generation (2011)
 * Andy Wightman
 * The Poor Had No Lawyers (Third Edition, 2015)