European Literature Prize (Europese Literatuurprijs)
1 appearances
-
Edition 7 (2017) Winner
Max Porter
マックス・ポーター
Makkusu Pōtā
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1981-01-01 （High Wycombe, England）
- Nationality
- British
- Languages
- English
Career
- Occupations
- Writer, former bookseller, former editor
- Active Years
- 2009-
- Memberships
- Royal Society of Literature
- Influenced By
- Ted Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Dylan Thomas, Francis Bacon
- Nominations
- Guardian First Book Award (longlisted/shortlisted) 2015, Goldsmiths Prize shortlist 2015, Wainwright Prize longlist 2019 (Lanny), Man Booker Prize longlist 2019 (Lanny), Gordon Burn Prize shortlist 2019 (Lanny)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Courtauld Institute of Art | History of Art | — | BA | — | United Kingdom |
Courtauld Institute of Art
History of Art
Degree:
BA
Country:
United Kingdom
Studied History of Art; followed by an MA researching radical performance art, psychoanalysis, and feminism.
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award | Grief Is the Thing with Feathers | — | The Sunday Times | 受賞 |
| 2016 | Books Are My Bag Readers' Award (fiction) | Grief Is the Thing with Feathers | — | National Book Tokens | 受賞 |
| 2016 | Dylan Thomas Prize | Grief Is the Thing with Feathers | — | Dylan Thomas Prize | 受賞 |
| 2017 | Europese Literatuurprijs | Grief Is the Thing with Feathers | — | Europese Literatuurprijs | 受賞 |
| 2020 | Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature | — | — | Royal Society of Literature | 受賞 |
Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award
2016
Work:
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers
Organization:
The Sunday Times
Result:
受賞
Books Are My Bag Readers' Award (fiction)
2016
Work:
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers
Organization:
National Book Tokens
Result:
受賞
Dylan Thomas Prize
2016
Work:
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers
Organization:
Dylan Thomas Prize
Result:
受賞
Europese Literatuurprijs
2017
Work:
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers
Organization:
Europese Literatuurprijs
Result:
受賞
Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
2020
Organization:
Royal Society of Literature
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers
2015 Hybrid (between novel and poetry) 128 pagesA hybrid prose-poetry work in which a crow visits a grieving family; the book explores loss, grief and family bonds through lyrical, fragmentary language.
grieffamilybirds / allegoryloss and renewal
Adaptations
- [Play] Grief Is the Thing with Feathers (play) / Enda Walsh (2019)
- [Feature film] The Thing With Feathers / Dylan Southern (2025)
Translations
- Translated into 27 languages
Lanny
2019 Novel 320 pagesSet in a rural English village, Lanny centers on a boy and explores community, myth, memory, social divisions and ecological anxiety.
village societychildhoodfolklore and the uncannysocial division
Adaptations
- [Feature film (planned)] Lanny (film adaptation planned)
Translations
The Death of Francis Bacon
2021 Poetic prose / hybrid 208 pagesA hybrid, poetic-prose work imagining the final days of the painter Francis Bacon, attempting to write in the manner of painting and replicate the mind confronting image and decline.
deathart and the visualdissolution of consciousness
Translations
Shy
2023 Novella / polyphonic 96 pagesA polyphonic novella about a troubled teenager, employing modernist techniques to explore interiority and social pressures.
youth crisispolyphonygrowing up and isolation
Adaptations
- [Film (adapted by the author)] Steve / Tim Mielants (2025)
Bibliography
- Grief Is the Thing with Feathers (2015)
- Lanny (2019)
- The Death of Francis Bacon (2021)
- Shy (2023)
- Short stories, poems and essays (various contributions)
Adaptations
- Grief Is the Thing with Feathers (stage adaptation, premiered 2019; performed in London and New York)
- The Thing With Feathers (feature film premiered at Sundance 2025)
- Steve (film adaptation of Shy, distributed by Netflix, 2025)
Translations of Works
- Grief translated into many languages
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- poetic, fragmentary prose with attention to rhythm and soundhybrid, genre-blurring experimental approach
- Recurring Motifs
- birds (crow)grief and mourningfamily dynamicsvisuality and painterly influence
Legacy
In a relatively short career Porter has earned acclaim for his poetic experimentation and genre-blurring works; stage and film adaptations have extended his influence into popular culture, and he is regarded as a notable contemporary English writer.
Academic Societies
- Royal Society of Literature
In Popular Culture
- Stage adaptation (directed by Enda Walsh, starring Cillian Murphy) and film adaptations have popularised his work
Quotes
-
The book is heartrending, blackly funny, deeply resonant, a perfect summation of what it means to lose someone but still to love the world.
Source: The Guardian (review by Sarah Crown) (2015)
Trivia
- Formerly managed the Chelsea branch of Daunt Books and won Bookseller of the Year in 2009.
- Grief Is the Thing with Feathers was adapted for the stage starring Cillian Murphy and later adapted into a film that screened at Sundance.
- Served as chair of the International Booker Prize 2025 committee.