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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FestivalsJeanette Winterson @ EIBF
Literature is filled with larger-than-life characters inside its stories – The Edinburgh International Book Festival is the perfect medium to p... Read more »| 20 Aug 2010 -
FestivalsAlasdair Gray @ EIBF
As the actors spoke the opening lines: ‘storm clouds, whose snow and hail and rains pour down... heralding the Lord’, so too did the Edin... Read more »| 20 Aug 2010 -
Book Reviews
At the Loch of the Green Corrie by Andrew Greig
Norman MacCaig’s request to Andrew Greig at their last meeting was a simple one: catch a fish for him at his favourite spot; the Loch of the Gr... Read more »| 19 Aug 2010 -
Festivals
A L Kennedy @ EIBF
With the possible exception of Alistair Darling, few authors appearing at this year’s Book Festival could be expected to reference Creamola Foa... Read more »| 19 Aug 2010 -
FestivalsAlberto Manguel @ EIBF
When Alberto Manguel entered the Corner Theatre on Tuesday, there can’t have been more than fifteen of us, spread out like islands in a baffled... Read more »| 19 Aug 2010 -
FestivalsChristos Tsiolkas @ EIBF
This year’s Book Festival begins with a slap. It's a full house in the Highland Park Spiegeltent to hear Christos Tsiolkas talk about his Booker-nomina... Read more »| 18 Aug 2010
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Festivals
Dan Cruickshank @ EIBF
Dan Cruickshank requires no lessons in architectural history. But he could do with some guidance on public speaking. Cruickshank’s new book is ca... Read more »| 18 Aug 2010 -
Festivals
Philip Pullman @ EIBF
Inasmuch as we love Lyra Belacqua, so does Philip Pullman love Jesus: a poetic genius, social reformer, and protagonist of the greatest story ever to... Read more »| 18 Aug 2010 -
Festivals
Mairi Hedderwick @ EIBF
Talking about how she creates her watercolours of Scotland, Mairi Hedderwick says she doesn’t paint at the scene itself – ‘somebod... Read more »| 18 Aug 2010 -
Festivals
Iain Banks @ EIBF
An audience member asked Iain Banks, at the end of his Book Festival event, how he thought he had changed over the years, to which he replied, &ldquo... Read more »| 17 Aug 2010 -
Book Reviews
Scott-land: The Man Who Invented a Nation by Stuart Kelly
If you grow up in Edinburgh, it’s hard not to do so in the shadow of Sir Walter Scott, or at least the massive ‘steam-punk version of Thunderbird... Read more »| 16 Aug 2010 -
Book Reviews
The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tyszka
‘The birth of medicine is irremediably bound up with the birth of negligence’ and other such musings are found within the two intertwining storyl... Read more »| 16 Aug 2010 -
Festivals
Martin Creed @ EIBF
“A lot of making is trying to do things to make me feel better.” So says the artist who this year has taken over the Edinburgh festivals – ... Read more »| 16 Aug 2010 -
Festivals
Laura Barton and Raphael Selbourne @ EIBF
Barton and Selbourne were an odd pairing at the bookfest: yes they have things in common – they’ve both just published their first novels... Read more »| 16 Aug 2010 -
Book Reviews
A Game of Sorrows by Shona MacLean
The year is 1628 and Alexander Seaton of Aberdeen finds himself called to Ireland to break a curse that has been placed upon his estranged family. Th... Read more »| 23 Jul 2010