Books & Poetry

Mad, bad and dangerous to know: what it meant to be Roman emperor

ONE year after he became Rome’s first official emperor, Augustus completed a building project which his great-uncle Julius Caesar – the military dictator who polished off the limited democracy of the Republic – had started. It was, says Mary Beard in her new book Emperor of Rome: “A vast new marble voting hall.” It could hold 50,000 people.

10 of Scotland's quirkiest and coolest book shops

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Exclusive Alex Salmond joins calls from authors as it emerges his book was 'stolen' for AI

Poet Donna Ashworth on her love for Loch Ordie

Exclusive 'Outrageous': Scots authors' fury at finding novels 'stolen' by tech giants for AI

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Echoes of Lanark in this adventurous Scottish novel by Glasgow-born Iain Hood

Why were thousands of people skinny dipping in North Sea at the weekend?

Letters A property tax is the fairest way of financing our local authorities

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Review: A Scottish GP sets out an eloquent treatment plan for our ailing NHS

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Book review: Prize-winning poet and author Michael Malone's latest offering

Who will win this year's Anne Brown essay prize on Scotland?

Uncanny revelations. Why Scotland is 'one of most haunted countries' in world

Anne Brown Prize : What makes a great essay?

New character joins Winnie-the-Pooh following discovery in Scots archive

Travel: Author Cherise Saywell on her love for Lismore

What's on: Joseph Malik's new release, author John Niven and a ghost story

Radio review: Who are these people who feel the need to climb mountains?

Shortlist for the 2023 Anne Brown Essay Prize revealed

Review: Eleanor Thom draws on an intimate physical connection between generations

Book review: Rory Stewart, a square peg in a round hole?

Irvine Welsh: Drug deaths high because 'Scotland doesn't control its destiny'

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Wigtown Book Festival: Everything you need to know ahead of 25th annual event

Wolf, lynx, great auk. Scotland's lost pre-industrial wildlife revealed

Book review: A battle of demons and heartstrings

Author James Naughtie on his undercover life in Journalism

Book review: Our national obsession with comedy might have a dark side

John Cairney, actor and writer who was key figure in the history of the Fringe

Letters It is a tragedy that the UK refuses to invest in its people

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Edinburgh goes all 1960s, Glasgow is starstruck ... but it’s murder in Stirling

Artist and author Amanda Thomson on her love for Meall a’ Bhuachaille

Finalists revealed for McIlvanney prize 2023 with debut novelist included

Discovering Scotland's stories in an often overlooked corner of the country

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Children's Laureate Joseph Coelho on importance of local libraries for children

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Poem of the week: A fierce spirit of defiance

Anne Enright: Why should women be expected to only write happy stories?

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Letters The Scots language is not something you make up as you go along

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Kate Atkinson is back with her first short story collection in 20 years. Review

Sebastian Faulks delves into a tense future of humans and not-quite human hybrids

NEIL MACKAY'S BIG READ How Scotland's new literary superstar wants to fix the broken Scottish male

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Poem of the week: In praise of the brave rowan tree

Letters: Why are we sending billions in aid to a country with a space programme?

Opinion Neil Mackay: Sinister Scotland is the natural home of horror

Traumatic past of an author who shaped Scottish writing for decades

What's on next week: Return of Jaws and stars line up for book festival

Scottish short story writer is impish, provocative, irreverent

Wartime doggy tale receives a comic book makeover

'I don’t think he meant to kill himself' - Scots author's moving family memoir

'I feared I'd never be able to return to Scotland even for the deaths of loved ones'

Poem: New England poet Robert Frost on earth, sky and the coming fires

Uncomfortable truths emerge in a biography of the George Orwell's wife

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Edinburgh Festivals Why the old school tie still counts for something in Edinburgh

The secrets of Kilbroch: What is buried on a remote Scottish estate?

Opinion Rosemary Goring: Did Nicola Sturgeon really have to go to an English publisher?

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What's on in Scotland: Fine arts and sultry music to fill summer days and nights