Books
The Skinny book guide – bringing you book reviews, features, events, reviews and author interviews. Find previews and on the ground reporting from festivals of literature and poetry in Scotland and beyond.
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Festivals
Edinburgh International Book Festival announces 2015 programme
The line-up for the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival has been announced ahead of this year's festival in August. The 2015 Festival once again take... Read more »| 10 Jun 2015 -
Book Reviews
Liberty Bazaar by David Chadwick
High society is a form of captivity in this rollicking tour through Victorian Liverpool, which also happens to be a searing indictment of Britain’s rol... Read more »| 05 Jun 2015 -
Festivals
Speaking Out
Ameena Atiq performs at Liverpool Arab Arts Festival this month. The Skinny talks to the rising star of spoken word Read more »| 04 Jun 2015 -
Events
Northwest Book Highlights – June 2015
From a medieval Fifty Shades of Grey to an evening of experimental poetry, the start of summer brings a diverse selection of literary events to the Northwest Read more »| 03 Jun 2015 -
Features
Concrete Jungle: Eleanor Rees on Blood Child
As she releases her third collection, Blood Child, poet Eleanor Rees discusses her political incentive, celebrates the imagination and defends the role of the local poet Read more »| 03 Jun 2015 -
Features
It Started With a Cough: words with Louise Welsh
Serial literary monogamist Louise Welsh is looking more long term with the publication of the second of her Plague Times trilogy. She talks to crime author Russel D. McLean about extending this post-pandemic world Read more »| 02 Jun 2015
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Features
The Dark Horse: Cantering into the Literary Limelight
After being edited for a period from Hugh MacDiarmid's cottage, boasting Seamus Heaney as a lifetime subscriber, and publishing high calibre contributors including George Mackay Brown, The Dark Horse is a thoroughbred. It's now 20, and its time to party. Read more »| 02 Jun 2015 -
Book Reviews
The Good Dark by Ryan Van Winkle
There are certain buttons a writer can push for any individual reader that initiate a simple, powerful 'yes to this' response and pretty much destroy the pot... Read more »| 01 Jun 2015 -
Book Reviews
Book of Numbers by Joshua Cohen
Joshua Cohen has put together something really hefty in Book of Numbers. It’s work, though it’s enthralling work if you can get it. We start with... Read more »| 29 May 2015 -
Book Reviews
In the Enemy Camp by William Wantling
‘Things never became easy’ for William Wantling, wrote Charles Bukowski, and ‘that’s why he continued to write well.’ And remai... Read more »| 29 May 2015 -
Features
Memories of Murder: Aly Sidgwick on Lullaby Girl
Author Aly Sidgwick has created a work of contrasts - existing between Scotland and Scandinavia, literary skills and genre thrills. Here she talks to The Skinny about her debut novel Lullaby Girl. Read more »| 29 May 2015 -
Book Reviews
The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan
‘But when he said to her, we are the sea – that made the most perfect kind of sense. She was the sea, and so was everyone else. We all come from ... Read more »| 14 May 2015 -
Events
Rap Lyrical: Word Up! on LightNight
This Friday, as part of LightNight, Liverpool’s Writing on the Wall festival (WoW) invites two artists from different sides of the Atlantic to perform under the stars in a celebration of spoken word. The Skinny talks to Shayshahn MacPherson and Blue Saint Read more »| 12 May 2015 -
News
BBC Scotland launches Poet In Residence search
The Scottish Poetry Library and BBC Scotland have teamed up to search for an upcoming poet to take on a three month paid residency at the BBC. The residency... Read more »| 11 May 2015 -
Book Reviews
Don't Try This at Home by Angela Readman
What if one summer your mum was Elvis? What if you met yourself in the future and you were homeless? What if you were born with the face of a dog, or became ... Read more »| 04 May 2015