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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IntersectionsSaving Words: On the Importance of Libraries
Cuts, cuts, and more cuts – our libraries are under attack. One writer reflects on a lifelong love for her local library and the need to keep the doors open, especially in these difficult times Read more »| 10 Nov 2023 -
MusicBat For Lashes on the Motherwitch oracle deck
Ahead of its release this month, Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes, talks us through her gorgeous Motherwitch oracle deck Read more »| 10 Nov 2023 -
FeaturesNathalie Olah on Bad Taste
We catch up with author Nathalie Olah to discuss her new book Bad Taste, dissecting the hierarchies of taste and class in 21st-century Britain Read more »| 07 Nov 2023 -
Book ReviewsPraiseworthy by Alexis Wright
In a small Aboriginal town called Praiseworthy, locals confront the dust cloud of their ancestors and looming climate collapse in Alexis Wright's extraordinary experimental novel Read more »| 02 Nov 2023 -
EventsScottish Books Events: November 2023
Two big book festivals take place in Edinburgh next month, with book launches, poetry nights, and spoken word everywhere from Glasgow Women's Library and The Stand Read more »| 01 Nov 2023 -
Book ReviewsThe Coiled Serpent by Camilla Grudova
Queen of the grotesque Camilla Grudova returns with a true-to-form collection of disgusting short stories Read more »| 01 Nov 2023
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Book ReviewsBlackouts by Justin Torres
Justin Torres' highly anticipated sophomore novel experiments with form to consider how we document and preserve queer histories Read more »| 30 Oct 2023 -
Book ReviewsLet Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
Twice winner of the National Book Award for Fiction, Jesmyn Ward returns with a stunning, defiant historical imagining of the American South Read more »| 25 Oct 2023 -
Book ReviewsVengeance Is Mine by Marie NDiaye
In Marie NDiaye's quiet psychological thriller, a lawyer represents a woman on trial for murder, in whose past she is inescapably entangled Read more »| 25 Oct 2023 -
Book ReviewsDeath Valley by Melissa Broder
Melissa Broder's third novel is a blackly comic exploration of grief via cavernous cacti and talking rocks Read more »| 24 Oct 2023 -
Book ReviewsFamily Meal by Bryan Washington
In Bryan Washington's Family Meal, a cast of friends, family and lovers come together to consider ideas of intimacy and interdependence Read more »| 11 Oct 2023 -
FeaturesMarjorie Lotfi on debut poetry collection The Wrong Person to Ask
We chat with American-born, Iranian-raised and Scotland-based author Marjorie Lotfi about her debut poetry collection The Wrong Person to Ask and what it means to belong to a place Read more »| 11 Oct 2023 -
FeaturesIranian storyteller Zahra Afsah on The Voice Shall Always Remain
Ahead of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, we chat with Iranian storyteller Zahra Afsah, whose collaboration with Syrian storyteller Khloud Ereksousi explores the possibility of female revolution Read more »| 06 Oct 2023 -
Book ReviewsThe Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang
In a near-future world where industrial agriculture has ground to a halt, a chef finds work at the illicitly stocked house of a wealthy mogul Read more »| 03 Oct 2023 -
Book ReviewsLovebug by Daisy Lafarge
Daisy Lafarge's lyrical non-fiction book uses metaphors of love and disease to explore ideas of intimacy and contagion Read more »| 03 Oct 2023