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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Book ReviewsTaipei by Tao Lin
TaiPei is an unflinching and hate-filled account of a group of people with a commitment to nothing greater than themselves, written in a purposefully mundane... Read more »| 04 Jul 2013 -
FestivalsTrollsong: Ljodahått
This group take their name from a verse form in Old Norse poetry. ‘Ljodahått’ can be roughly translated as ‘magic song’ or even... Read more »| 02 Jul 2013 -
EventsIllicit Ink and Graphic Scotland: Tales from the Strip
1. So, who are you guys? We started out as a bunch of graduates from Napier University’s creative writing course, wanting to do something very differe... Read more »| 02 Jul 2013 -
Festivals
Songs in the Key of Fife
Well don't be! The Fence Collective, a loose grouping of musicians based around the Kingdom of Fife, are one of the most inspiring and heartening collectives... Read more »| 02 Jul 2013 -
Festivals
Unbloced: John Lemke & Poppy Ackroyd with Writers' Bloc
The collective of wordsmiths known as Writers' Bloc are moving into new territory for their show at Jura Unbound this year. We caught up with them to find ou... Read more »| 02 Jul 2013 -
Festivals
Adam Thirlwell: Found in Translation
In which Adam Thirlwell explains how he got 61 writers to push 12 stories through 18 languages Read more »| 02 Jul 2013
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FestivalsOpen Rhodes: Dan Rhodes in Interview
Dan Rhodes chats with us about mainstream acceptance, mellowing with age, and what to expect from his Jura Unbound event Read more »| 02 Jul 2013 -
Festivals
Super-Powered: Comics and Graphic Novels at Jura Unbound
The debate about the legitimacy of comics as an art form is over. As Literary Death Match and Illicit Ink prepare comics-themed events for Jura Unbound, we celebrate the rise and rise of sequential art Read more »| 02 Jul 2013 -
Festivals
Three Decades of Edinburgh International Book Festival
Edinburgh International Book Festival is celebrating its 30 year anniversary and Jura Unbound is getting in on the action. We spoke to the organisers of three events reflecting upon a specific decade and one that encompasses all three Read more »| 02 Jul 2013 -
Festivals
Jura Unbound 2013: An Introduction
It is 2013 and the Edinburgh International Book Festival is celebrating its 30th birthday. If the Book Festival is the respectable adult of Charlotte Square ... Read more »| 02 Jul 2013 -
Festivals
Discover a World, in Words: Edinburgh International Book Festival, 10-26 Aug
Every August the Edinburgh International Book Festival takes place in Charlotte Square Gardens, a leafy green space just a stone’s throw from views of ... Read more »| 02 Jul 2013 -
FestivalsUnbound 2013: Events Listings
Be Unbound every night of the Edinburgh International Book Festival in the Guardian Spiegeltent, Charlotte Square Gardens. Events start at 9pm, and are free and unticketed. Best get there early if you want a seat Read more »| 02 Jul 2013 -
Book Reviews
Plan D by Simon Urban
Plan D imagines a modern day East Germany in which the Berlin Wall never fell. Trapped inside the socialist state, citizens are subject to the same clo... Read more »| 01 Jul 2013 -
Book Reviews
Cotton Tenants by James Agee and Walker Evans
James Agee was a protean genius, mastering every form he tried, whether poetry, film criticism, the novel, screenwriting, or journalism. But in his greatest ... Read more »| 01 Jul 2013 -
Book Reviews
The Blue Hour by Alonso Cueto
Winner of the Herralde Prize for the Spanish original, The Blue Hour is an unconventional love story set against the backdrop of a country recovering from a ... Read more »| 01 Jul 2013