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 ReviewsThings We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez
Buenos Aires: a city of ghoulish children with sharpened teeth and murdered teens who return from beneath dark waters. A city of women who see self-imm... Read more »| 03 Apr 2017 -
Book Reviews
How to Be Human by Paula Cocozza
Paula Cocozza's novel How to Be Human is an arresting, appealing debut, telling the story of its protagonist, Mary, and the fox that visits her East London g... Read more »| 03 Apr 2017 -
Book ReviewsConfessions of a Recovering Environmentalist by Paul Kingsnorth
We know from his novels The Wake and Beast that Paul Kingsnorth is a wild and iconoclastic writer. This collection of essays confirms him as a fear... Read more »| 27 Mar 2017 -
Features
Emily Dickinson: More than a feminist hero
As Terence Davies' new film exploring the life of American poet Emily Dickinson reaches cinemas, we consider the innovations in her work – and the limitations of viewing her only as a feminist hero Read more »| 23 Mar 2017 -
FeaturesElan Mastai: "Time travel is a very human thing"
Esteemed screenwriter and author Elan Mastai journeys through time in his new novel All Our Wrong Todays. He tells The Skinny what he himself would travel back to fix and why our present is so easily reimagined as a dystopian future Read more »| 21 Mar 2017 -
Festivals
Ian Rankin-themed festival comes to Edinburgh
Ian Rankin has announced details of RebusFest, a weekend of literature, music, art and film curated by the novelist which will take place in Edinburgh this summer Read more »| 17 Mar 2017
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Features
Paul Auster talks death, Trump, and 4 3 2 1
The smart, urbane and insightful Paul Auster came to Manchester for the shortest Q&A in the history of literary Q&As this week. Luckily every word he said was interesting... Read more »| 13 Mar 2017 -
FeaturesGwendoline Riley interview: First Love
Longlisted for the 2017 Baileys Prize, Gwendoline Riley's fifth novel, First Love, is a needle-sharp portrait of a relationship caught between peace and pain Read more »| 08 Mar 2017 -
FestivalsWhere Are We Now festival: What is counterculture?
Provocative collective Neu! Reekie! present Where Are We Now?, a festival of politically minded performance, at Hull UK City of Culture 2017. In this era of global turbulence, The Skinny asks organiser Kevin Williamson: Where is the counterculture now? Read more »| 07 Mar 2017 -
Book Reviews
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
“Vain, weak, puerile, hypocritical, without manners, without social grace…” As America's literary voices steel themselves to document the ... Read more »| 06 Mar 2017 -
Events
Scottish Poetry News: March 2017
Our poetry columnist highlights a big month for Flint & Pitch, by both hosting their regular Revue and presenting a special performance, Show Me The Money Read more »| 03 Mar 2017 -
Features
Megan Bradbury's NYC: Sex, Art & Urban Planning
As her hypnotic debut novel Everyone is Watching publishes in paperback, Megan Bradbury discusses telling the story of New York. A city whose narrative arc s... Read more »| 02 Mar 2017 -
Book Reviews
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Nadia and Saeed meet at an evening class and fall in love while the city around them swells with refugees and slides towards crisis. When they can no longer ... Read more »| 28 Feb 2017 -
Book Reviews
The Sad Part Was by Prabda Yoon
Due to their condensed nature, short stories often rely on novelty to hold attention; whether that be a quirky cast, unusual perspectives or unlikely scenari... Read more »| 28 Feb 2017 -
Features
404 Ink on Nasty Women, their first anthology
Publishing on International Women's Day, fresh and fierce new publishers 404 Ink's Nasty Women is an anthology Margaret Atwood describes as 'An essential window into many of the hazard-strewn worlds younger women are living in right now.' Read more »| 28 Feb 2017