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 Reviews
Wifedom by Anna Funder
Anna Funder's Wifedom explores the woman behind George Orwell's life and works, his wife Eileen O’Shaughnessy, offering a lucid interrogation of misogyny and what it means to write ‘truth’ Read more »| 24 Nov 2023 -
Book Reviews
Mrs S by K Patrick
K Patrick's runaway hit Mrs S explores gender and queerness during a simmering summer at an all-girls boarding school Read more »| 24 Nov 2023 -
Book Reviews
Curious Affinities by Sophie Chauhan
Sophie Chauhan's Curious Affinities is a lyrical exploration of the personal and political residues of intimacy, and what happens when the borders of things meet Read more »| 20 Nov 2023 -
Features
Word Soup: Sean Wai-Keung on Dumpling Poetry
We chat with food-poet Sean Wai-Keung about his Push The Boat Out event Dumpling Poetry, and the community spirit inherent to both cooking and performance Read more »| 17 Nov 2023 -
Intersections
Saving Words: On the Importance of Libraries
Cuts, cuts, and more cuts – our libraries are under attack. One writer reflects on a lifelong love for her local library and the need to keep the doors open, especially in these difficult times Read more »| 10 Nov 2023 -
Features
Nathalie Olah on Bad Taste
We catch up with author Nathalie Olah to discuss her new book Bad Taste, dissecting the hierarchies of taste and class in 21st-century Britain Read more »| 07 Nov 2023
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Book Reviews
Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright
In a small Aboriginal town called Praiseworthy, locals confront the dust cloud of their ancestors and looming climate collapse in Alexis Wright's extraordinary experimental novel Read more »| 02 Nov 2023 -
Events
Scottish Books Events: November 2023
Two big book festivals take place in Edinburgh next month, with book launches, poetry nights, and spoken word everywhere from Glasgow Women's Library and The Stand Read more »| 01 Nov 2023 -
Book Reviews
The Coiled Serpent by Camilla Grudova
Queen of the grotesque Camilla Grudova returns with a true-to-form collection of disgusting short stories Read more »| 01 Nov 2023 -
Book Reviews
Blackouts by Justin Torres
Justin Torres' highly anticipated sophomore novel experiments with form to consider how we document and preserve queer histories Read more »| 30 Oct 2023 -
Book Reviews
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
Twice winner of the National Book Award for Fiction, Jesmyn Ward returns with a stunning, defiant historical imagining of the American South Read more »| 25 Oct 2023 -
Book Reviews
Vengeance Is Mine by Marie NDiaye
In Marie NDiaye's quiet psychological thriller, a lawyer represents a woman on trial for murder, in whose past she is inescapably entangled Read more »| 25 Oct 2023 -
Book Reviews
Death Valley by Melissa Broder
Melissa Broder's third novel is a blackly comic exploration of grief via cavernous cacti and talking rocks Read more »| 24 Oct 2023 -
Book Reviews
Family Meal by Bryan Washington
In Bryan Washington's Family Meal, a cast of friends, family and lovers come together to consider ideas of intimacy and interdependence Read more »| 11 Oct 2023 -
Features
Marjorie Lotfi on debut poetry collection The Wrong Person to Ask
We chat with American-born, Iranian-raised and Scotland-based author Marjorie Lotfi about her debut poetry collection The Wrong Person to Ask and what it means to belong to a place Read more »| 11 Oct 2023