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 ReviewsBored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella
Tony Santorella’s witty and sharp debut novel follows its titular bored gay werewolf as he navigates encountering his fellow beasts Read more »| 29 May 2023 -
Book ReviewsBecause I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't by Josie Long
At once soothing and painful, acclaimed comedian Josie Long’s short story collection comprises characters who struggle with the inequities of daily life Read more »| 17 May 2023 -
ComedyA Long Time Coming: Josie Long on her debut book
Award-winning comedian and mum of two Josie Long is now an author. She talks to us from halfway across the world about her debut book, Because I Don’t Know What You Mean and What You Don’t Read more »| 15 May 2023 -
Book ReviewsThis Is My Body, Given For You by Heather Parry
Fresh off her debut novel Orpheus Builds A Girl, Heather Parry returns with her gory, unsettling debut collection This Is My Body, Given For You Read more »| 09 May 2023 -
FeaturesMusicality, desire and Blackness in Caleb Azumah Nelson's Small Worlds
Caleb Azumah Nelson's remarkable sophomore novel Small Worlds is an investigation into music as a structuring force, and as a space where its characters can find security and expression Read more »| 09 May 2023 -
Book ReviewsWeak Teeth by Lynsey May
Lynsey May's debut Weak Teeth is an exercise in voyeuristic pleasure, exploring the way one woman's life falls apart in small and big ways Read more »| 04 May 2023
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EventsScottish Books Events: May 2023
There's plenty of books festivals this month, as well as book launches for the likes of Kae Tempest and R.F Kuang Read more »| 02 May 2023 -
Book ReviewsOrdinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
Christina Sharpe's experimental visual poetic work Ordinary Notes is a profound rumination on knowledge, loss, Black American life and memory Read more »| 27 Apr 2023 -
Book ReviewsFray by Chris Carse Wilson
Chris Carse Wilson's debut is a beguiling and hallucinatory tale of grief amidst the wilderness Read more »| 27 Apr 2023 -
Book ReviewsEnter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
A woman leaves her home in London to return to her homeland of Palestine in Isabella Hammad's complex, tender meditation on art, family, and resistance Read more »| 26 Apr 2023 -
FeaturesTrue Crime & Smuggling Snails: Alice Slater & Heather Parry in conversation
Authors Heather Parry and Alice Slater sit down over a shared Google Doc to discuss Slater's new book, the power of unlikeable characters, and grossness in fiction Read more »| 26 Apr 2023 -
FeaturesAlice Slater on her true crime-inspired debut Death of a Bookseller
We chat with Alice Slater about her fierce, grimy debut Death of a Bookseller and the legacy of true crime in fiction and beyond Read more »| 17 Apr 2023 -
Book ReviewsRadical: A Life of My Own by Xiaolu Guo
Xiaolu Guo's memoir Radical is the story of a search for selfhood and a language that connects her past and present Read more »| 13 Apr 2023 -
Book ReviewsShy by Max Porter
Max Porter's highly anticipated fourth novel Shy is a hallucinatory, fragmentary journey through its eponymous character's internal landscape Read more »| 04 Apr 2023 -
Book ReviewsLinghun by Ai Jiang
The debut novella from speculative short story author Ai Jiang, Linghun is a haunting investigation into home and grief Read more »| 03 Apr 2023