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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NewsGraeme Macrae Burnet makes Man Booker Shortlist
Today the prestigious Man Booker Prize was announced, with a novel from tiny Scottish publisher Saraband making the cut ahead of work by JM Coetzee and AL Kennedy Read more »| 13 Sep 2016 -
Events
Graphic Content: Thought Bubble 2016
Comics fans will gather in Leeds in November for the tenth anniversary of Thought Bubble festival – the UK’s biggest celebration of sequential ar... Read more »| 13 Sep 2016 -
FeaturesBenjamin Markovits: Class War in Rust Belt America
Likened to a season of The Wire scripted by JM Coetzee, You Don't Have to Live Like This is an explosive picture of gentrification amongst Detroit's urban decay. We catch up with its James Tait Black Prize winning author Benjamin Markovits Read more »| 12 Sep 2016 -
Book ReviewsThe Fat Artist and Other Stories by Benjamin Hale
Building on the success from his award winning first novel, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, Benjamin Hale brings something delightful and disturbing ... Read more »| 07 Sep 2016 -
Festivals
Literature festivals in the North this autumn
If the last few months were all about #summerreads, autumn is the season of the literature festival – and the North has some pretty major ones. Here's our guide Read more »| 06 Sep 2016 -
Book ReviewsEve Out of Her Ruins by Ananda Devi
This slim volume is such a harrowing experience, some may balk at continuing once the fate of the titular Eve becomes clear. Translated from Mauritian writer... Read more »| 05 Sep 2016
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Features
Jonathan Safran Foer on Here I Am
Here I Am is being declared Jonathan Safran Foer's masterpiece: a term he will hear nothing of. He discusses the controversies a book which features a Middle... Read more »| 05 Sep 2016 -
Book Reviews
Turning Blue by Benjamin Myers
The new book from last year's Portico Prize winner is a tour de force of stark horror writing Read more »| 05 Sep 2016 -
Features
Hollie McNish's Charlotte Church factfile
Ahead of Charlotte Church's Late Night Pop Dungeon headlining this month's Neu! Reekie! Celts night at the National Museum of Scotland, poet Hollie McNi... Read more »| 02 Sep 2016 -
Festivals
Why Are Economists Topping the Non-Fiction Charts?
This year’s Manchester Literature Festival has a good number of events looking at economic ideas and how they shape us, from Yuval Noah Harari speaking... Read more »| 02 Sep 2016 -
FeaturesPoetry News: Edinburgh Book Festival recap
Our poetry columnist looks back on her favourite events during Edinburgh's Festival month, being inspired particularly by the merging of forms, crossing cultural borders and breaking down barriers Read more »| 01 Sep 2016 -
Features
Murder at the Golden Lion: Bloody Scotland returns
In anticipation of Bloody Scotland in Stirling this September, crime author Russel D McLean takes a look at The Murder at the Golden Lion: A Case for the Great Detective (apologies to Agatha Christie – and all Golden Age crime writers) Read more »| 31 Aug 2016 -
Book Reviews
Dear Mr M by Herman Koch
Mr M is a writer, and he’s being stalked by his neighbour. The stalker, our narrator, really doesn’t like Mr M. He watches the writer with contem... Read more »| 26 Aug 2016 -
Book Reviews
The Glue Ponys: Short Stories by Chris Wilson
Of all the elements of a book which might kindle our interest, the positioning of an author’s biography rarely so much as prompts a raised eyebrow. But... Read more »| 26 Aug 2016 -
Features
Ron Rash: “In America we’re in such a dark place"
With his outstanding new work Above the Waterfall, the highly acclaimed US author Ron Rash tries to draw the 'wonder' from a snarling modern America. He talks about the novel here, and why while a proud Southern writer, don't precede that with 'just a' Read more »| 19 Aug 2016