Author | Max Porter |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Publisher | Faber and Faber |
Publication date | 2015 |
Awards | Dylan Thomas Prize |
ISBN | 9780571323760 |
Followed by | Lanny |
Grief is the Thing with Feathers is the debut book by Max Porter, a novella about grief, published in 2015. [1] [2] [3]
Grief is the Thing with Feathers is a "book about death and its grief-stricken consolations – love and art" through the story "of a grieving writer and father of two young boys, who is coming to terms with the death of his wife while writing a book about Ted Hughes". It uses text, dialogue and poetry. [4] The book is narrated from rapidly alternating perspectives: the Dad, the Boys, and Crow—a human-sized bird that can speak, "equal parts babysitter, philosopher and therapist" to the family. [5] [6]
The title refers to a poem by Emily Dickinson, ""Hope" is the thing with feathers". [7] Crow is the Crow from Ted Hughes' 1970 poetry book. [8]
Grief is the Thing with Feathers was adapted into a play of the same name, directed by Enda Walsh and starring Cillian Murphy. [9] In 2024, a film adaptation, The Thing with Feathers began production, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. [10] [11]
The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom. Established in 1942, it was one of the oldest literary awards in the UK.
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author of the book by The Guardian newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It was a lifetime award in that previous winners were not eligible. At least from 2000 the prize was £1,500. The prize was apparently discontinued after 2016, though no formal announcement appears to have been made.
The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and reading in the United Kingdom, and sponsored by Nestlé, the manufacturer of Smarties candy. It was one of the most respected and prestigious prizes for children's literature.
The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awards go to writers under the age of 35 with works published in the year before the award; the work can be either non-fiction, fiction or poetry.
Alice Priscilla Lyle Oswald is a British poet from Reading, Berkshire. Her work won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2002 and the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2017. In September 2017, she was named as BBC Radio 4's second Poet-in-Residence, succeeding Daljit Nagra. From 1 October 2019 until 30 September 2023, she was the Oxford Professor of Poetry.
The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The prizes do this by identifying and honouring talent: collections published in the UK and Ireland over the course of the previous year are eligible, as are single poems nominated by journal editors or prize organisers. Each year, works shortlisted for the prizes – plus those highly commended by the judges – are collected in the Forward Book of Poetry.
Erica Wagner is an American author and critic, living in London, England. She is former literary editor of The Times.
Benjamin Myers is an English writer and journalist.
The Booktrust Teenage Prize was an annual award given to young adult literature published in the UK. The prize was administered by Book Trust, an independent charity which promotes books and reading. The Booktrust Teenage Prize was last awarded in 2010 and is no longer running.
Patrick Ness FRSL is an American-British author, journalist, lecturer, and screenwriter. Born in the United States, Ness moved to London and holds dual citizenship. He is best known for his books for young adults, including the Chaos Walking (2008-2010) trilogy and A Monster Calls (2011).
Modern Poetry in Translation is a literary magazine and publisher based in the United Kingdom. The magazine was started by Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort in 1965. It was relaunched by King's College London in 1992. The College published it until 2003. It publishes contemporary poetry from all around the world, in English.
Kae Tempest is an English spoken word performer, poet, recording artist, novelist and playwright.
TheWriters' Prize, previously known as the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting in 2017, the sponsor was Rathbone Investment Management. At the 2023 award ceremony, it was announced that the prize was looking for new sponsorship as Rathbones would be ending their support. In November 2023, having failed to secure a replacement sponsor, the award's governing body announced its rebrand as The Writers' Prize.
Sophie Irene Hunter is an English theatre director, playwright and former actress and singer. She made her directorial debut in 2007 co-directing the experimental play The Terrific Electric at the Barbican Pit after her theatre company Boileroom was granted the Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award. In addition, she has directed an Off-Off-Broadway revival of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts (2010) at Access Theatre, the performance art titled Lucretia (2011) based on Benjamin Britten's opera The Rape of Lucretia at Location One's Abramovic Studio in New York City, and the Phantom Limb Company's 69° South also known as Shackleton Project (2011) which premièred at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey Theatre and later toured North America.
Sara Baume is an Irish novelist. She was named on Granta magazine's "Best of Young British Novelists" list 2023.
Max Porter is an English writer, formerly a bookseller and editor, best known for his debut novel Grief is the Thing with Feathers.
The Costa Book Award for Novel, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2005), was an annual literary award for novels, as part of the Costa Book Awards.
The Costa Book Award for Children's Book, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2005), was an annual literary award for children's books, part of the Costa Book Awards, which were discontinued in 2022, the 2021 awards being the last made.
The Thing with Feathers is an upcoming film starring Benedict Cumberbatch. It is an adaptation by Dylan Southern of the novel Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter.
Lanny is the second novel by Max Porter, published in March 2019. It is a missing-boy story, set in an English village within commuting distance of London. The book was described by Tim Smith-Laing in The Telegraph as being "between novella, long poem, and grief memoir", and by John Boyne in The Irish Times as "experimental fiction". It is named after the missing boy.