Literary Fiction : Novelists Max Porter and Evie Wyld

Max Porter and Evie Wyld are exemplars of a generation that pushes the boundaries of literature with peculiar, thought provoking fiction. They join us for an evening of literary delights, discussing their work, the creative process, and much more.

Max Porter’s Grief is a Thing with Feathers is an astonishing debut from an author that is unquestionably ‘one to watch’. Porter’s experience as an editor at Granta  is abundantly clear in his beautiful lyrical style; this is a novel that dances on the very edge between poetry and prose.

The book delivers the dazzlingly humane tale of a widowed Ted Hughes Scholar left to raise two small children. As the fallout of his wife’s death sets in, Hughes’ own Crow appears, there to guide the family through their grief until his services are no longer required. Poignant, funny and utterly gripping it was little surprise when the book was published to rave reviews, from the LRB to the Telegraph and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, as well as the Goldsmiths and Dylan Thomas Prizes.

Evie Wyld said of Porter’s novel “It stunned me, full of beauty, hilarity, and thick black darkness. It will stay with me for a very long time.” As an award-winning novelist and critic herself, this was no slim praise!

Wyld’s first novel After the Fire, A Still Small Voice won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and her second, All the Birds, Singing, won both the Encore Award and the Miles Franklin Award and was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the IMPAC Prize and The James Tait Black as well as being longlisted for the Baileys Prize for Fiction; She is no stranger to literary success.

Her latest work offers something of a departure for her readers: a sumptuous graphic-novel-come-memoir Everything is Teeth. As a little girl spending summers in the brutal heat of coastal New South Wales, Evie became obsessed with sharks. Everything is Teeth is a delicate and intimate collection of the memories she brought home to England, a book about family, love and the irresistible forces that pass through life unseen, under the surface, ready to emerge at any point.

Join us for an evening of unique insights, readings and discoveries!