The Library Cat

Description

Please Note: This book is currently available for delivery to the UK only.

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 arched, 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.

Product Details

Published: 31 July 2025
Format: 198x129mm, paperback
Extent: 192 pages
ISBN: 9781785308277

Pre-Order Information

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This book is currently available for delivery to the UK only.

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Black & White Publishing shall use its best endeavours to fulfil all copies as ordered within the timescale specified but where the failure to do so is caused by something outside its reasonable control, including but not be limited to, weather conditions, fire, flood, hurricane, strike, industrial dispute, war, hostilities, political unrest, riots, civil commotion, inevitable accidents, pandemic, supervening legislation or any other circumstances amounting to force majeure, the Publishers shall only be obliged to supply a first edition copy at a time when such product is available. If the Publishers are unable to supply a copy of the book, on or before 28/11/2025, then the customer may request a full refund.

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Author

Alex Howard is an author, editor and theatre professional from Edinburgh. His TikTok page, @housedoctoralex, has nearly 300,000 followers and has 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 appeared in New Writing Scotland, Gutter and The London Magazine, among others, while his academic book Larkin’s Travelling Spirit (Palgrave Macmillan) was published in 2021.

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.