About
The history, hows, whys and wherefores of an independent publisher of eclectic taste
In short
Canongate was founded in Edinburgh in 1973. We’re still here (and in London too). We spend our days finding voices that need to be heard, and sharing stories that deserve to last
For more than fifty years we’ve been committed to fiercely independent, high quality and innovative publishing. We’ve won both Independent Publisher of the Year and (twice) Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards. We’ve published Nobel laureates and celebrities, political prisoners and activists.
It’s not all about words: we’re committed to having a positive social and environmental impact in everything that we do. (Why be independent if you can’t do things properly?)
So in 2024 we became the first UK trade publisher to become a certified B Corp.
The books that shaped us
Along the way there have been landmarks of fiction – including Alasdair Gray’s masterpiece Lanark, The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki (winner of the Women’s Prize) and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, the beloved Booker winner – and non-fiction too – from Barack Obama’s memoir Dreams From My Father to Samin Nosrat’s cookery classic Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.
See just some of the books that have meant the most to Canongate through the years.
