That Was The Year That Was: The Best Of 2025 Podcasts – Books...

As is traditional, the first of our Best of 2025 podcasts is all about books, when once again Ali is joined by Publishing Scotland's Vikki Reilly (right) to talk about just a few of the standouts of the year, and to give a heads up as to what's coming in 2026.

The two talk fantastic fiction, non-fiction, plenty of prose, and even a little poetry. There are debuts to Last Words, complicated families, celebrations of friendships, love, loss, what it means to be alive, examinations of the ancient world right up to the present day, and so much more, and we're certain you'll hear about something you'd like to investigate yourself.

Always a SWH! highlight of the year, the aim of this podcast is to reflect, and celebrate, another exceptional 12 months in Scottish writing. It may be our longest podcast of the year, but it's always one of the best...

And don’t forget to check out the Books from Scotland website for more of the best of Scottish books.

If you aren’t yet a subscriber to the Scots Whay Hae! podcast you can do so, (or simply listen) at iTunes, on Podbean, with Spotify, on MixCloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Or, if you want it right here, right now, you can listen on SoundCloud…

..or on YouTube…

Coming Soon - Best Crime Fiction of 2025 with Callum McSorley...

In the meantime you can always check out our back catalogue of over 400 interviews with some of the most interesting names in Scottish culture.