Alasdair Gray’s Lanark was an early milestone for Canongate, a novel that changed the literary landscape in Scotland and typifies the kind of fiction that Canongate loves and continues to look for. Time has done nothing to lessen the power, imaginative brilliance and beauty of this landmark publication by the man described by Ali Smith as a “necessary genius”.

Canongate spent its first two decades publishing many wonderful Scottish writers. Today the company works with authors from all over the world, but that national tradition remains a vibrant and important part of our identity. In 2008, a reprint of Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain found massive, unexpected success, finally earning this classic of nature writing the audience it deserves. Shepherd has since become the first woman ever to appear on a main issue Scottish bank note.

Following a buyout in 1994, Canongate broadened its focus beyond Scotland and Scottish literature. The Pocket Canons, individual books of the Bible with striking introductions by public figures from Doris Lessing to the Dalai Lama, announced a completely new kind of publishing for Canongate: diverse, radical and global.

Then, in 2002, everything changed when Canongate published Life of Pi. Yann Martel’s novel became the biggest-selling Booker Prize-winner ever, while Canongate won Publisher of the Year – something unheard of for a tiny independent publisher. A new era had begun.

In 2007, Canongate published the memoirs of a little-known US politician. Barack Obama’s memoirs would become a bestseller before his race to the White House had even begun. But Dreams from My Father has gone on to sell over two million copies, Canongate’s biggest-selling book since Life of Pi.

And in 2005 Canongate launched a series of reimagined myths with books from Karen Armstrong, Margaret Atwood and Jeanette Winterson. With editions published simultaneously in 32 countries around the world, the series went on to feature such luminaries as Philip Pullman, Ali Smith, AS Byatt, Michel Faber, David Grossman and Alexander McCall Smith.

We’re extremely proud to have worked with lots of authors who, in their books and beyond, have fought and campaigned for what they believe in.

From Patrisse Khan-Cullors (co-founder of Black Lives Matter) and James Rhodes (who went to the Supreme Court for the right to talk about his own abuse, and has helped transform child protection laws in Spain)…

Canongate is drawn to publishing polymaths, from neuroscientist and short story writer David Eagleman, to filmmaker, artist and novelist Miranda July, to poet, playwright and bestselling memoirist Lemn Sissay, to David Byrne, who is best known as a musician, but has also worked in film, photography, art and theatre. We follow our authors wherever they want to go next, and support them in whatever they want to do.