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.
-
Book ReviewsEverything Under by Daisy Johnson
The eerie atmosphere of this imaginative page-turner by Daisy Johnson seeps into the reader and grips with claws as sharp as the Bonak’s. Read more »| 02 Aug 2018 -
EventsBeyond Borders: Jodi Rudoren & Talat Yaqoob
The Beyond Borders festival brings a weekend of discussion and cultural exchange to Scotland this August – ahead of their event on 100 years of votes for women, we talk to Jodi Rudoren and Talat Yaqoob Read more »| 02 Aug 2018 -
Book Reviews
How to Love a Jamaican by Alexia Arthurs
How to Love a Jamaican explores the gravitational pull between close-knit island communities and the USA for Jamaican characters who have moved one way or the other. Alexia Arthurs is an evocative storyteller who dives deep into her characters’ motivation Read more »| 01 Aug 2018 -
Features
Scottish Poetry News - August 2018
While Edinburgh is a hub of literary activity this month, there are also festivals, open mics and events to take in across Scotland this August Read more »| 01 Aug 2018 -
Book ReviewsAmateur by Thomas Page McBee
Reading Amateur is watching someone try to simultaneously figure out who they are, who the world wants them to be, and why. It’s deeply personal and politically vital, a calm and contemplative antidote to male toxicity. Read more »| 31 Jul 2018 -
FeaturesClaire Askew on All the Hidden Truths
Claire Askew's debut novel tackles the tinderbox of masculinity, the uneasiness of our relationship with information, and our collective desire for the reasons behind horrific crimes Read more »| 30 Jul 2018
-
Festivals
Writing Destiny with Nikesh Shukla
As he brings his two new novels to the Edinburgh Book Festival, we talk fate, thrillers and diversity with Nikesh Shukla Read more »| 26 Jul 2018 -
Book Reviews
Notes to Self by Emilie Pine
Emilie Pine writes with pinpoint precision and invites readers into deeply personal parts of herself, exploring them with beautiful nuance Read more »| 26 Jul 2018 -
Book Reviews
The Tyranny of Lost Things by Rhiannon Cosslett
The Tyranny of Lost Things is, at its best, a nostalgia-popping look at the place past countercultural lifestyles holds in contemporary consciousness, an intergenerational exploration, and a warning against romanticising the past. Read more »| 12 Jul 2018 -
Book Reviews
Testament by Kim Sherwood
Sherwood's first novel is a stunning new take on the horrors of the Holocaust Read more »| 10 Jul 2018 -
Features
The rawness of reality: Olivia Laing on Crudo
Olivia Laing introduces her first novel, Crudo, a blend of punk prose and the all-too-real events of seven turbulent summer weeks in 2017 Read more »| 05 Jul 2018 -
Book Reviews
Suicide Club by Rachel Heng
In her debut novel, Rachel Heng takes this to its wildest extreme, creating a society where health, ageing and mental wellbeing are all government mandated. Read more »| 05 Jul 2018 -
Festivals
Unbound: Andrew Rae and the Music Machines
Life's a peach when you have a moon for a head. Striking, fun, musical and creative - celebrate the mystic of Moonhead with illustrators and musicians coming together, including Aussies Electric Fields and more Read more »| 03 Jul 2018 -
Festivals
Unbound 2018: The Full Listings
A night-by-night guide to this year's Unbound programme. Events kick off at 9pm in the Book Festival gardens, although you may want to get down early to make sure you get a seat. Each and every event is, of course, free. Read more »| 03 Jul 2018 -
Festivals
Barcelona, City of Literature at Unbound
For one night in the Spiegeltent, Edinburgh hands the stage to a fellow UNESCO City of Literature Read more »| 03 Jul 2018