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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FeaturesLanguage, Live! Spoken Word and Poetry in the Northwest
Budding poet, writer or performer? Grab the bull by the horns – or, er, your audience by the... imagination – and test your material onstage at a variety of vibrant spoken word nights Read more »| 08 Sep 2014 -
Festivals
Speaking Out: An Interview with Hollie McNish
Poet, mother, lover, daughter, friend, feminist and proper author Hollie McNish is one of the UK’s best-known spoken word artists. In a rare free moment ahead of her October tour, She chats to The Skinny about luck, poetry and YouTube comments Read more »| 05 Sep 2014 -
Book Reviews
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Already hailed as a classic of the genre, H is for Hawk is a rich blend of memoir, biography and natural history. Broken by the grief of her father’s d... Read more »| 04 Sep 2014 -
Festivals
Linda Grant: Abrasions of the Past
Author Linda Grant has clothed past insecurities with a confidence drawn from her series of highly acclaimed novels, the most recent being Upstairs at the Party. She takes time out from Edinburgh International Book Festival to discuss just how Read more »| 03 Sep 2014 -
Book ReviewsLunch Poems by Frank O'Hara
Hard to believe half a century’s passed since the publication of Frank O’Hara’s Lunch Poems – so named because most of the book was w... Read more »| 02 Sep 2014 -
Features
Alan Warner: Imagining Scotland
As he publishes his new novel Their Lips Talk of Mischief, Alan Warner – one of Scotland's greatest living authors – talks candidly of referendum, ageing and critics. And as is only relevant, books, of course Read more »| 02 Sep 2014
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Book ReviewsWerner Herzog – A Guide for The Perplexed by Paul Cronin
As one might expect from a 493-page conversation with the filmmaker Werner Herzog, the most explosive moments come in the form of confrontations with his cul... Read more »| 01 Sep 2014 -
Book Reviews
Flanagan's Run by Tom McNab
Got post-Commonwealth Games blues? Don’t worry, you can get your fix of Scottish sporting prowess with Tom McNab’s classic novel Flanagan’s... Read more »| 29 Aug 2014 -
Book ReviewsThe Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi
With The Quantum Thief, Hannu Rajaniemi set a new standard for science fiction that dared to imagine a post-human future. With its sequel, The Fractal Prince... Read more »| 29 Aug 2014 -
Festivals
Edinburgh International Book Festival 2014: Reflections on Murakami
As an almost unbearable anticipation grew ahead of Haruki Murakami's Scottish trip, we take a look at the man behind the well-managed mystique and reflect upon his appearance at Edinburgh International Book Festival Read more »| 27 Aug 2014 -
Festivals
Edinburgh International Book Festival: Time to Fight for Feminism
Baxter and Cosslett set up their blog Vagenda Magazine in 2012 to – in their own words – ‘call bullshit' on the mainstream women&rsquo... Read more »| 22 Aug 2014 -
Festivals
Salena Godden: Narrating the Times
The indefinable black, punk, feminist poet, writer and performer; most succinctly termed by Kerrang as ‘Everything the Daily Mail is terrified of’ – Salena Godden talks tears, laughter and the poetry of toilet walls and lovers' whispers Read more »| 21 Aug 2014 -
Festivals
Letters Home: Grid Iron Theatre Company @ Edinburgh International Book Festival
Just a minute or two into the bludgeoning that is Christos Tsiolkas’ Eve and Cain, it seemed as if it might be a gruelling night traipsing around ... Read more »| 20 Aug 2014 -
Events
Neu! Reekie! does Titian @ National Gallery of Scotland
In homage to the Renaissance master, 'monthly headfuck' Neu! Reekie! took over National Gallery Scotland for a night in June bringing animation, poetry and music. The Skinny was there to experience the shame and love, myth and legend, boobs and... hip-hop Read more »| 18 Aug 2014 -
Festivals
Edinburgh International Book Festival: Good Low-Cost Food
Food is, and always has been, a political issue. As writers and activists Mike Small and Andrew Whitley address the comfortably full tent at Edinburgh Intern... Read more »| 16 Aug 2014