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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FeaturesOmar 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 -
FeaturesRead 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 -
FestivalsSebastian 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 -
Features
Women in Translation: The best of 2017
August is Women in Translation month, bringing attention to an underrepresented section of literature; here's q tip of the hat to the translators bringing this work to us & one writer's personal pick of titles for 2017, both published & in the pipeline Read more »| 15 Aug 2017 -
Festivals
Protest: Laura Hird leads the resistance at EIBF
We speak to author Laura Hird about her Radical War story in the new anthology Protest, and the Edinburgh Book Festival event to mark it. In a time when political protest is so relevant, it's important to learn from an often forgotten past Read more »| 10 Aug 2017 -
FeaturesMichael Pedersen & Scott Hutchison on Oyster
Our poetry columnist speaks with Michael Pedersen, co-pilot of Neu! Reekie! and Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit, to get the dirt on their succulent new collaboration of Michael's poetry and Scott's artwork: Oyster Read more »| 07 Aug 2017
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FestivalsEdinburgh International Book Festival: Highlights
Our Books Editor asks you to engage with the grand questions facing the world today, all being discussed in one small square in Edinburgh's west end over August. Here's his highlights for the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2017 Read more »| 04 Aug 2017 -
Book Reviews
Let Us Be True by Alex Christofi
Love, loneliness and existential angst in post-war Europe. Read more »| 03 Aug 2017 -
Book Reviews
The First Blast to Awaken Women Degenerate by Rachel McCrum
There is a particular thrill at getting your hands on the book of a poet you normally encounter in more impermanent, intangible forms: readings, podcasts, in... Read more »| 01 Aug 2017 -
Book Reviews
Such Small Hands by Andrés Barba
Children can be so cruel. Easy when there's no perception of consequence. Perhaps that’s why they're a tool horror uses to tap into primal fears: we la... Read more »| 31 Jul 2017 -
Book Reviews
Petite Fleur by Iosi Havilio
In endings, there are perhaps new beginnings. Starting with the explosive end to his job at a fireworks factory, this new novel from Argentina's Iosi Havilio... Read more »| 31 Jul 2017 -
Book Reviews
So Happy It Hurts by Anneliese Mackintosh
Roping together Ottila McGregor’s struggle to quit alcohol, recover from her father’s death, support her mentally ill sister and form a relations... Read more »| 26 Jul 2017 -
Book Reviews
Tin Man by Sarah Winman
It starts with a painting, selected as a prize at a small town raffle, mainly to the disarray of the men shouting for the whisky. A seemingly innocuous event... Read more »| 21 Jul 2017 -
Features
Women in Wartime Literature
A English translation of Svetlana Alexievich’s The Unwomanly Face of War got us thinking about representations of women in wartime Read more »| 14 Jul 2017 -
Videos
Watch Neu! Reekie!'s Anywhere But The Cities film
Available online for the first time, watch the travelogue of multi-art noisemakers Neu! Reekie!'s 2015 tour of rural Scotland Read more »| 11 Jul 2017