Max Porter (born 1981) is an English writer, formerly a bookseller and editor, best known for his debut novel ''Grief is the Thing with Feathers''.

Background

Porter was born in

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

in 1981 and received a degree in History of Art at the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

in London, followed by an MA in radical performance art, psychoanalysis, and feminism. Prior to his writing career, Porter managed the Chelsea branch of

Daunt Books Daunt Books is a chain of bookshops in England, founded in 1990 by James Daunt. It originally specialised in travel books. In 2010, it began publishing. James Daunt later became CEO of Waterstones and the US bookstore chain Barnes & Noble. Bo ...

and won the Bookseller of the Year Award in 2009. He was Editorial Director at ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'' and

Portobello Books ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and m ...

until 2019. In 2019, Porter was named as a guest curator for the

Cheltenham Literary Festival ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' Cheltenham Literature Festival, a large-scale international festival of literature held every year in October in the English spa town of Cheltenham, and part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for t ...

Works

''Grief is the Thing with Feathers'' is a hybrid of prose and poetic styles about a crow who visits a grieving family of a

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

scholar and his two young boys. It draws heavily upon Hughes's ''Crow: From the Life and Songs of Crow'' and its title is derived from Emily Dickinson's "Hope is the thing with feathers". In 2016, ''Grief'' won the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' PFD Young Writer of the Year Award, the Books Are My Bag Readers' Award for fiction, and the International Dylan Thomas Prize. It has also been shortlisted for the

Guardian First Book Award The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspap ...

and the

Goldsmiths Prize The Goldsmiths Prize is a British literary award, founded in 2013 by Goldsmiths, University of London, in association with the ''New Statesman.'' It is awarded annually to a piece of fiction that "breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of ...

for experimental writing. Reviewing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Sarah Crown writes that the book "is heartrending, blackly funny, deeply resonant, a perfect summation of what it means to lose someone but still to love the world – and if it reminds publishers that the best books aren’t always the ones that can be pigeonholed or precised or neatly packaged, so much the better". It has been translated into twenty-seven languages. ''Grief is the Thing with Feathers'' was adapted into a play of the same name, directed by

Enda Walsh Enda Walsh (born 1967) is an Irish playwright. Biography Enda Walsh was born in Kilbarrack, North Dublin on February 7, 1967. His father ran a furniture shop and his mother had been an actress. He is the second youngest of six children. Wal ...

and starring

Cillian Murphy Cillian Murphy (; born 25 May 1976) is an Irish actor. Originally the lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist of the rock band The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, he turned down a record deal in the late 1990s and began acting on stage and in short and ...

, which premiered in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

on 25 March 2019 and has been performed in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In an interview, Porter details the experience of adapting ''Grief'' for the stage: " th both Cillian and Enda, the goal was to make the production as true as it could be to the book. There were no changed endings or swapping one feature for another". Cillian Murphy won an ''Irish Times'' Theatre Award for "Best Actor" for his performance as the grieving father. The play was a ''New York Times'' Critic's Pick, with Ben Brantley writing that the performance "beautifully evoke the way in which the whole world seems apocalyptic after a personal tragedy". On 5 March 2019, Porter's second book ''Lanny'' was published by Faber and longlisted for the

Wainwright Prize The Wainwright Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of general outdoors, nature and UK-based travel writing. In 2020 it was split into the Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing and the Wainwright Prize for writing on globa ...

2019 and Man Booker Prize 2019, and has shortlisted for the

Gordon Burn Prize Gordon Burn (16 January 1948 – 17 July 2009) was an English writer born in Newcastle upon Tyne and the author of four novels and several works of non-fiction. Background Burn's novels deal with issues of modern fame and faded celebrity as l ...

2019. Faber describe ''Lanny'' as "a story about a family whose village is peopled by the living and the dead. It’s a story about a boy with a gift for friendship and the traces of enchantment he leaves in the closely woven lives around him". The book examines rural English community life and childhood myth in response to social division and ecological crisis. The book is set to be adapted into a film starring

Rachel Weisz Rachel Hannah Weisz (; born 7 March 1970 ) is an English actress. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Rachel Weisz, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a BAFTA Award. We ...

. In 2021, Faber released ''The Death of Francis Bacon'', a hybrid poetic prose work that the publishers describe as "seven extraordinary written pictures the explosive final workings of the artist’s mind". ''The Death of Francis Bacon'' is set during the last days of Francis Bacon's life as he lays dying in Madrid and is written in visceral poetic language which corresponds to Bacon's style of painting. Porter describes the text as an "attempt to write as painting, not about it; an attempt to replicate thought, struggle, the struggle of thought, but also the sheer energy of the eye’s confrontation with the painted image" which is "the result of a long preoccupation ..with Francis Bacon". Writing for the Scotsman, Stuart Kelly claims that the hybrid work is "not a novel, art criticism or biography" but maintains that it is "a very moving depiction of a mind in dissolution at the very edge of death", noting the influence of

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...

on Porter's "apocalyptic" style of writing. Porter's publisher

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

have announced that Porter's next novel ''Shy'' - "the polyphonic story of a troubled teenager" - will be published on 6 April 2023 in the UK.

Bibliography

Novels/novellas

* ''Grief is the Thing with Feathers'' (2015) * ''Lanny'' (2019) *''The Death of Francis Bacon'' (2021) *''Shy'' (forthcoming, 2023)

Short stories

* "Eltham Palace" in ''Eight Ghosts: The English Heritage Book Of New Ghost Stories'' (2017, also featuring

Kate Clanchy Kate Clanchy MBE (born 1965 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a British poet, freelance writer and teacher. Early life She was born in 1965 in Glasgow to medieval historian Michael Clanchy and teacher Joan Clanchy (née Milne). She was educated at Ge ...

, Stuart Evers,

Mark Haddon Mark Haddon (born 28 October 1962) is an English novelist, best known for ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' (2003). He won the Whitbread Award, the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Wr ...

, Andrew Michael Hurley,

Sarah Perry Sarah Grace Perry (born 28 November 1979) is an English author. She has had three novels published, all by Serpent's Tail: ''After Me Comes the Flood'' (2014), ''The Essex Serpent'' (2016) and ''Melmoth'' (2018). Her work has been translated ...

Kamila Shamsie Kamila Shamsie FRSL (born 13 August 1973) is a Pakistani and British writer and novelist who is best known for her award-winning novel '' Home Fire'' (2017). Named on ''Granta'' magazine's list of 20 best young British writers, Shamsie has bee ...

, and

Jeanette Winterson Jeanette Winterson (born 27 August 1959) is an English writer. Her first book, '' Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'', was a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against convention. Other novels explore gender pola ...

) *"Brother: State of Mind" in ''Granta'' Magazine *"The Part-Time Countryman" in ''Pursuit: The Balvenie Stories Collection'' edited by Alex Preston (2019) *"Even As We Plunged Down the Hill" in ''We'll Never Have Paris'' edited by Andrew Gallix (2019) *RAT (Flash Fiction) in TANK Magazine *"Daughter" in the inaugural edition of INQUE (limited print run, 2021)

Poetry

* "Kneeling Shepherd (i.m. David Miller)" in ''

'' (2017)
Jerome's Study
with Catrin Morgan (artist), Prototype publishing (2018) *"Myth of the Mole", with S.J. Fowler, in POETRY (2019)

Non-fiction

* "Interview with Alice Oswald" in ''

The White Review ''The White Review'' is a London-based magazine on literature and the visual arts. It is published in print and online. History ''The White Review'' was founded by editors Benjamin Eastham and Jacques Testard, and released its first issue in ...

'' (2014) *"Dying on the Toilet", an essay on Francis Bacon's painting ''Triptych May–June 1973'' (2016) *"When I Lost My Father, I Lost His Voice Too", personal essay on

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

(2016) *''Studies for Studies'' (2017, contributor: by artist Catrin Morgan) *''Jerome’s Study'' (2018, with Catrin Morgan) *'Max Porter on Paul McCarthy's 'Piccadilly Circus: Fan Letter',

Frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

Issue 200 (2019) *Introduction to ''Time Lived, Without Its Flow'' by

Denise Riley Denise Riley (born 1948, Carlisle) is an English poet and philosopher. Life Riley lives in London. She was educated for a year at Somerville College, Oxford, and graduated from New Hall, Cambridge. She was, until recently, Professor of Literat ...

(Picador, 2019) *"How My Son's Love for Crystal Palace Made Me Fall For Football", autobiographical essay in ''Mundial'' *"It Could Be Any Book" in ''The Gifts of Reading: An Anthology of Essays About the Joys of Reading, Giving and Receiving Books'', curated by Jennie Orchard (2020) *"Spirit D'escalier the Size of a Country", for the Aitken Alexander Isolation Series (April 2020) *"It's So Good" (March 2021) *"Poo Fairy" (March 2021)

Miscellaneous

* "Ground" in ''Nicola Hicks: Keep Dark'' (2018) *''It's Going To Be A Bright New Day: Would You Rather, with Bonnie Prince Billy'' (2020, pamphlet) *Lyrics for 'Bed in the River' by Joan Shelley (May 2020) *"MAN" and "WOMAN" lyrics for album ''DEAD CLUB'' by Tunng (2020) *Lyrics for EP ''Three Feral Pieces'' by Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Nathan Salsburg (April 2021) *''All of this Unreal Time'' (film and art installation, Manchester International Festival, July 2021) Written by Max Porter, featuring

(actor), directed by

Aoife McArdle Aoife McArdle ( ) is an Irish director, writer, and cinematographer working in film and television. Early life Aoife McArdle grew up in Omagh, Northern Ireland. She studied English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin where, alongside cr ...

(director), music by

Aaron Dessner Aaron Brooking Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as a founding member of the rock band the National, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums; a co-founder of the indie ...

Bryce Dessner Bryce David Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, as well as a member of the rock band the National. Dessner's twin brother Aaron is also a member of the group. Together they write the music, in coll ...

, and

Jon Hopkins Jonathan Julian Hopkins (born 15 August 1979) is an English musician and producer who writes and performs electronic music. He began his career playing keyboards for Imogen Heap, and has produced but also contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Co ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Max English novelists 1981 births Living people 21st-century British novelists 21st-century English male writers