Max Porter

This week we're revisiting Angela's conversation with Max Porter about his book Grief Is The Thing With Feathers. It's all about messy families, relationships, and we hope it'll encourage you to hug your families tight this Easter weekend.Follow these links to get Max's newer books, Lanny, and The Death of Francis Bacon.We'll be back in two weeks with our conversation with Clemency Burton-Hill. See ya then! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Max Porter broke new ground with his highly-original debut Grief is a Thing With Feathers, and firmly established himself as a major literary talent with his second novel Lanny. The cult author joined us to explore his latest and most ambitious novel yet: The Death of Francis Bacon, a collection of 'verbal paintings' depicting the final moments of the artist’s life. What responsibility does an author owe to their subject, and to their audience, in the age of the Internet? Is culture becoming less tolerant of ambiguity? How far can a novelist experiment before commercial considerations kick in? Max answers all these questions and more -- and gives us a breathtaking performance from the new novel quite unlike any literary reading you've ever heard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our first episode of Season Two, we chat to the inimitable Max Porter about pushing the limits of language, the role of art in ritual and collective experience and a search for joy within the mundane. We discuss the relationship between novel and stage, as well as the dichotomies of guilt and shame, care and kindness and humour as a form of resilience in a changing world. We talk about Max's desire to 'capture the pulse of feeling' in his book The Death of Francis Bacon and explore how to reinstate ritual in the ways we relate to landscape and the nonhuman world. We talk about writing as a mode of time travel and mourning as a kind of love. As a Tender Buttons listener you can get 10% discount on Max's work at Storysmith Books. Listen to the episode for more details and then head to our page on the Storysmith website: storysmithbooks.com/tenderbuttons REFERENCES:  Time Lived Without its Flow by Denise Riley Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter Lanny by Max Porter The Death of Francis Bacon by Max Porter

Join us for a conversation between Robert J. Wiersema and Booker-Nominee Max Porter about his latest book, The Death of Francis Bacon.Francis Bacon is on his deathbed. Max Porter reimagines his final dying fever dreams in a magisterial appreciation of one of the greatest artists of all time. It is as filthy, clever, luminescent, dark and wild as Bacon himself.In this bold and brilliant short work of experimental fiction by the author of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers and Lanny, Max Porter inhabits Francis Bacon in his final moments, translating into seven extraordinary written pictures the explosive final workings of the artist's mind. Writing as painting rather than about painting, Porter lets the images he conjures speak for themselves as they take their revenge on the subject who wielded them in life.Books are available from our friends at Perfect Books.The Ottawa International Writers Festival is supported by generous individuals like you. Please consider subscribing to our newsletter and making a donation to support our programming and children’s literacy initiatives.

Max Porter talks about The Death of Francis Bacon. Dr Aoife Bhreatnach is reading Ireland's formerly banned books to hunt out the filth, the muck and the downright indecent. Joseph O’Connor answers questions from the Charlie Byrne’s Book Club in Galway city about his novel Shadowplay.

Catch up with the Grim Readers this week as they chat about one of the true horrors of being an adult, extreme exhaustion. Nikki shares with us an embarrassing story, and we chat about the cringe-worthy moments that can happen while on a Zoom meeting. Our books this week are "Crudo" by Olivia Laing, "The Discomfort of Evening" by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, and "Grief Is The Thing With Feathers" by Max Porter. 

Max Porter answers readers' questions about his latest book, The Death of Francis Bacon (this is the full version of his conversation with Kate Evans, which you may have seen as an online video/ Zoom interview)

This week I talk to the incredible writer Max Porter about raising boys, about the responsibilities of a parent, social media paranoia, and what to do when your kids treat you like a dickhead. We're good pals so this is a chat between friends vibesy episode. Max is the author of the new book, The Death Of Francis Bacon as well as Grief Is The Thing With Feathers and Lanny. I am the author of Brown Baby and other things.How do we raise our kids with joy and wonder in uncertain and – let’s face it – increasingly bleak times?This is the question explored in weekly podcast Brown Baby, hosted by writer (and dad of two) Nikesh Shukla. Inspired by his forthcoming memoir, Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race, Family and Home, each week Nikesh invites fellow parents of brown babies - writers, musicians, chefs, comedians, actors and more - to talk about their parenting journeys and the highs and lows they’ve experienced along the way.A frank, funny and poignant look at parenting, Brown Baby will spark honest, self-effacing conversation about how we tell our kids about the world. Featuring parenting fails, plus the best (and worst) advice Nikesh and his guests have ever received, this is the comforting, uplifting podcast for anyone who’s ever found themselves searching for answers in a sleep-deprived Google hole.Buy Brown Baby: https://linktr.ee/nikeshshuklaSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/brown-babyBuy The Death Of Francis Bacon by Max Porter: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/246/9780571366514My creative writing newsletter: nikesh.substack.comSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/brown-baby. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Max Porter is the author of Lanny, longlisted for the Booker Prize, and Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize. He is the recipient of the Sunday Times/Peter, Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year award. He talks to Neil about painting with words in his latest book The Death of Francis Bacon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

George Saunders has been teaching the Russian short story for over twenty years. In his new book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he explores seven iconic stories by authors including Chekhov and Tolstoy, showing us how they work, why we keep reading, and what they can tell us about the world today. Funny and frank, George Saunders shows how the best stories can spark our humanity as well as our imaginations, and why fiction is more important than ever in these turbulent times.George Saunders is the author of nine books including Lincoln in the Bardo, winner of the 2017 Man Booker Prize and the Premio Rezzori prize, which was also shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. Tenth of December won the inaugural Folio Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Saunders has received MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships and the PEN/Malamud Prize for excellence in the short story, and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2013, he was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine.Max Porter is the author of Lanny, longlisted for the Booker Prize, and Grief is the Thing with Feathers, winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize. He is the recipient of the Sunday Times / Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award. His new book, The Death of Francis Bacon, is published by Faber in January 2021.5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each.Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.comTwitter: www.twitter.com/5x15storiesFacebook: www.facebook.com/5x15storiesInstagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories