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.
-
FestivalsStAnza 2014: Q&As with Andrew Sclater and Marion McCready
As this year's StAnza Festival begins, we follow up our feature taking a look at this year's highlights with a series of exclusive Q&As with the performers, presenting our full interviews with Andrew Sclater and Marion McCready Read more »| 07 Mar 2014 -
FestivalsStAnza 2014: Q&As with Ross Sutherland and Sophia Walker
As this year's StAnza Festival begins, we follow up our feature taking a look at this year's highlights with a series of exclusive Q&As with the performers, presenting our full interviews with Ross Sutherland and Sophia Walker Read more »| 07 Mar 2014 -
Festivals
StAnza 2014: Q&A with Michael Pedersen
As the 2014 festival of poetry continues, poet and Neu! Reekie! host Michael Pedersen talks exclusively to The Skinny about his StAnza debut, and weighs in on the debate over 'page versus stage' Read more »| 06 Mar 2014 -
FestivalsStAnza 2014: Q&A with Eleanor Livingstone, Festival Director
As the 2014 festival of poetry begins, StAnza director Eleanor Livingstone talks exclusively to The Skinny about the festivals themes, its future, and the debate over 'page versus stage' Read more »| 05 Mar 2014 -
Book Reviews
Bedlam by Christopher Brookmyre
Brookmyre's no slouch when it comes to fast-paced plots, pithy Scottish humour and ribald banter, and indeed the creation of compelling, put-upon, no-hoper a... Read more »| 04 Mar 2014 -
Book Reviews
New Writing: From Scottish Book Trust’s Writer Development Programme
If vibrant, diverse and eclectic new writing is what you’re after, then this latest collection from the Scottish Book Trust makes for essential reading... Read more »| 04 Mar 2014
-
Festivals
StAnza Poetry Festival: Where Page Meets Stage
As StAnza Poetry Festival welcomes Louis de Bernières, Paul Muldoon and other leading lights, we speak to Festival Director Eleanor Livingstone about where page meets stage, and ask Michael Pedersen, Ross Sutherland and others to preview their shows Read more »| 03 Mar 2014 -
Book Reviews
Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood
Ernest Hemingway was a great man: a writer, a lover, a fighter. But this novel is about the women who normally comprise his subplot – the wives. O... Read more »| 03 Mar 2014 -
News
Neil Gaiman joins judging panel for Dundee Literary Prize
This year's Dundee International Book Prize, which awards the winner with a £10,000 prize, and a guaranteed publishing deal with respected Scottish imprint Cargo Publishing, will be judged by a select panel of industry experts, including Neil Gaiman Read more »| 14 Feb 2014 -
FeaturesA Literature of Independence: Miha Mazzini
The republication of Miha Mazzini's Crumbs, a novel about individual pursuits set against the backdrop of a nation driving for independence, could prove more timely than ever. We speak to the author about navigating self-determination Read more »| 07 Feb 2014 -
Book Reviews
Docherty by William McIllvanney
The story of Ayrshire miner Docherty covers three generations, telling the story of how Tam Docherty came to be the giant of his local community; a kind of de facto leader, and his subsequent fall from grace Read more »| 31 Jan 2014 -
Book Reviews
The Insufferable Gaucho by Roberto Bolaño
Though one of the most esteemed Latin American writers of his generation, Roberto Bolaño's reputation in the English-speaking world is sustained by tr... Read more »| 31 Jan 2014 -
Book Reviews
Winter's Tales
With most 'graphic novels,' despite the term, barely boasting the page-count of a short story or novella, it’s welcoming to immerse yourself in these t... Read more »| 31 Jan 2014 -
Book Reviews
Other People's Countries by Patrick McGuinness
A memoir from a Belgian backwater doesn't sound promising. And the contents page, listing titles like 'Boxes' and 'My Suits,' does little to counteract the a... Read more »| 30 Jan 2014 -
Book Reviews
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Eli and Victor are straight-A students and best friends until they decide to investigate the existence of EOs (ExtraOrdinaries – people with superhuman... Read more »| 27 Jan 2014