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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FeaturesKeith Hutson on debut poetry collection Routines
Our poetry columnist begins 2017 by speaking with emerging poet Keith Hutson about his debut collection of 31 sonnets, Routines, writing habits, influences and resolutions for the new year Read more »| 06 Jan 2017 -
FeaturesAmy Stewart on her Kopp Sisters novels
Lady Cop Makes Trouble picks up the story of the three Kopp sisters after their debut in Girl Waits With Gun. Amy Stewart talks about filling the holes in fa... Read more »| 06 Jan 2017 -
Book ReviewsSeverance/Intercourse by Robert Olen Butler
This is a tale of two books, bound together as one. The reader need only flip and reverse to move between a collection of vignettes describing moments of int... Read more »| 05 Jan 2017 -
Features
Poetry Slams, Am-drams & Bellyaches
Competition in art: a flawed concept surely? Scottish Poetry Slam champ Iona Lee argues that two separate beings, two lives of experience with opposite tastes and talents should not be graded or pitted against one another. In art there's no correct answer Read more »| 05 Jan 2017 -
Book Reviews
Montpelier Parade by Karl Geary
A cold, wet spring in Dublin. Sonny sees Vera for the first time while he’s working in her garden with his da. She walks down the path towards him and ... Read more »| 04 Jan 2017 -
FeaturesIntroducing Storyhouse, Chester's new arts centre
Chester's brand-new arts centre, Storyhouse, opens in May 2017. A major renovation and extension of the city's old Odeon building, it houses two state-of-the... Read more »| 20 Dec 2016
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Book ReviewsFallow by Daniel Shand
They say write what you know, and so many debut novels are rooted in the author’s everyday with the result as dreary and mundane as most lives truthful... Read more »| 19 Dec 2016 -
Book Reviews
Of All That Ends by Günter Grass
A slim but weighty final volume, Of All That Ends is a worthy addendum to the celebrated canon of Günter Grass, the sadly departed Nobel Prize winn... Read more »| 16 Dec 2016 -
Features
Isabel Buchanan on Trials on Death Row in Pakistan
In November, Isabel Buchanan was joint winner of the Saltire Society First Book award for her reflections on the Pakistani death row cases she worked to overturn. Here she discusses finding her feet in a new culture and legal system. Read more »| 07 Dec 2016 -
Art
The Inventors of Tradition II
A new publication and artist book incorporates documentary moments for each of the elements of The Inventors of Tradition II project. Conceived by the artist... Read more »| 06 Dec 2016 -
Book Reviews
The Brilliant & Forever by Kevin MacNeil
Everyone on this Scottish island is an aspiring writer, even a talking alpaca called Archie. He wears a Stetson, and gave his best friend, our narrator, a ju... Read more »| 05 Dec 2016 -
Features
Poetry News: Review of 2016
Our monthly poetry column reviews the events of 2016 – including Neu! Reekie! and Flint & Pitch – while offering up some lyrical gift options for Christmas Read more »| 05 Dec 2016 -
Book Reviews
Trials on Death Row in Pakistan by Isabel Buchanan
Just because a book is worthy, it doesn’t necessarily make it worthwhile. There must be balance between weighty subjects and their treatment. Debut au... Read more »| 02 Dec 2016 -
Features
The Skinny Books of 2016
The Skinny books team choose their favourites of 2016, from James Kelman's tale of musical beginnings to the tragic end of musician Ali Eskandarian, working through a somehow life-affirming frozen apocalyse and bitesized, bittersweet Treats Read more »| 02 Dec 2016 -
Book Reviews
The Map and the Clock
Despite the old book versus cover mantra, when first given this weighty tome of poetry, curated by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Gillian Clarke, the Nati... Read more »| 01 Dec 2016