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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FeaturesClemens Meyer & Jenny Erpenbeck on the German Novel
While their own broadsheet culture pages may often claim that The German novel is dead, The Skinny speaks to the exciting and experimental authors Clemens Meyer and Jenny Erpenbeck to find out how they are disproving this theory Read more »| 18 Sep 2017 -
Book ReviewsThe Readymade Thief by Augustus Rose
The stakes are low and the quality lower in Augustus Rose's trudge of a debut novel Read more »| 15 Sep 2017 -
Book ReviewsH(A)PPY by Nicola Barker
Nicola Barker's new novel is somehow altogether chilling and inspiring Read more »| 15 Sep 2017 -
Book ReviewsThe City Always Wins by Omar Robert Hamilton
A raw, powerful and relentlessly bleak look at the Egyptian political crisis Read more »| 15 Sep 2017 -
FeaturesSabrina Mahfouz & Iona Lee on women in poetry
National Poetry Day is on 28 September, with the 2017 theme of Freedom. The perfect opportunity then to speak with Iona Lee and Sabrina Mahfouz about the increasing volume of women's voices in the poetry scene Read more »| 14 Sep 2017 -
Videos
Salena Godden – RED for Nasty Women (video premiere)
The inimitable Salena Godden presents her new poem RED, donated to global art movement Nasty Women Read more »| 11 Sep 2017
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News
Scottish Poetry News: September 2017
Our poetry columnist highlights the launch of Stairs and Whispers at the Scottish Poetry Library – an anthology from deaf and disabled poets. We also look at the best published poetry to have reached us this month Read more »| 08 Sep 2017 -
Book Reviews
A Life of Adventure and Delight by Akhil Sharma
Akhil Sharma's new collection captures the complexities and contradictions of emotional life Read more »| 07 Sep 2017 -
Book Reviews
Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang
Jenny Zhang’s Sour Heart explores the difficulty of being caught on the hyphen of Chinese-American in biting, brutal, darkly hilarious style. Read more »| 07 Sep 2017 -
Book Reviews
Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck
Jenny Erpenbeck's remarkable new novel questions our understanding of borders and identity, and calls above all for compassion Read more »| 06 Sep 2017 -
Features
Bloody Scotland returns to Stirling
Dark and deadly happenings are predicted in Stirling on 8-10 Sep when our greatest crime writers gather for Bloody Scotland. But we find there is far more on offer than those big name authors to have put Scotland on the crime writing map Read more »| 01 Sep 2017 -
Festivals
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie & Nicola Sturgeon @ EIBF
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in discussion at Edinburgh International Book Festival Read more »| 29 Aug 2017 -
Features
Omar El Akkad on Charlottesville and American War
Charlottesville erupted after Omar El Akkad completed his prescient novel American War, yet like many speculative authors he was frighteningly accurate. He discusses with The Skinny the polarisation of, and battle lines running through, modern America Read more »| 21 Aug 2017 -
Features
Read the Chris McQueer short story: IS IT ART?
Chris McQueer's stories are beautifully profane & fucking hilarious, yet often echo with the truth of working class lives too rarely seen in literature. A live scene regular, he's now put them to page for debut collection Hings. Read IS IT ART? here Read more »| 17 Aug 2017 -
Festivals
Sebastian Barry @ EIBF 2017
The three-time Booker nominee covers a wealth of topics – from life in wartime to RuPaul's Drag Race – at Edinburgh International Book Festival Read more »| 16 Aug 2017