The Library Cat

Library Cat, the resident cat of the University of Edinburgh's Main Library, is not like other cats. He is a thinking cat. You can tell by the canny glint in his eye, his disdainful whiskers and his unrelenting interest in books and piles of paper.

This is the Library Cat's story. Join him as he adventures away from his favourite turquoise library chair and his preferred food (bacon rind) to go out into the big, bad world. Meet his cousins, Biblio Chat and Saaf Landan Tom; swoon during his brief encounter with the elusive Puddle Cat and hold your breath amidst his run-in with the terrifying Black Dog.

Part whimsy, part cat-borne philosophical novella, this is a tale about Library Cat's search for meaning in a confounding world. But it's about us Humans, too. Because with his black and white head bobbing a foot off the ground, Library Cat has seen Humans from a very different angle . . .

And he thinks we have it all wrong.

From the author of the bestselling The Ghost Cat (Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month August 2024). Library Cat was winner of The People's Book Prize 2017 (Beryl Bainbridge Award for Best First Time Author).

About the Author

Alex is an author, editor and theatre professional from Edinburgh. His TikTok page, Housedoctoralex, has nearly 300,000 followers and he's been featured on television and in the national press. A doctoral graduate of English literature, Alex wrote his first book Library Cat (Black & White Publishing) while completing his PhD. It won the People's Book Prize in 2017, and has been translated into French, Korean and Italian. He also writes poetry, which has been published in New Writing Scotland, Gutter and The London Magazine, among others, and his academic book Larkin's Travelling Spirit was published in 2021 by Palgrave McMillan. Alex works at Capital Theatres as a creative engagement coordinator and editor while renovating his Edinburgh tenement flat at weekends, with his cat Tabitha, son Sasha and wife, Ellie.