Max Porter

Max Porter is the author of five novels, including the Sunday Times #1 bestseller Shy, the Booker Prize-longlisted Lanny, and the multi award-winning Grief is the Thing with Feathers. His work has been translated into 39 languages and his new novel Burn and Rave will be published in February 2027. 

Steve, Porter’s screen adaptation of Shy starring Cillian Murphy, was released by Netflix in October 2025, and the screen adaptation of Grief is the Thing with Feathers starring Benedict Cumberbatch was released in November 2025. He is the author of The Death of Francis Bacon, praised as ‘a miniature masterpiece’, an illustrated children’s book Dogs and Bears, the short film All of this Unreal Time and the pamphlet It’s Going to Be a Bright New Day with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. 

Max is currently writer in residence in a UK prison, Associate Artist at The Southbank Centre and was chair of the judging panel for the International Booker Prize 2025.

‘Max Porter is one of my favorite writers in the world. Why? Because he’s always asking the most important questions and then finding ways—through innovative structures and that inimitable voice—of answering those questions soulfully, with his full attention.’ – George Saunders