‘We need to wake up’: what authors wish for Britain as a new chapter begins
Audiobook of the week
Shy by Max Porter audiobook review – tale of a ne’er do well, done well
February 2024
Five of the best
Five of the best books about grief
Moving memoirs and a magic-realist novella are among these stories that can help provide comfort and perspective
April 2023
Shy by Max Porter review – lyrical study of troubled youth
The author’s fourth book is a loving portrait of a teenage boy at a young offenders’ institution
Book of the day
Shy by Max Porter review – exhilarating portrait of a lost boy in 90s Britain
A young delinquent takes stock of his bad luck and bad decisions in this brief but brilliant novel from the author of Grief Is the Thing With Feathers
On my radar
On my radar: Max Porter’s cultural highlights
The award-winning novelist on his favourite art bookshop, the DJ he would vote for as PM and why he collects Pez dispensers
July 2021
All of This Unreal Time review – Cillian Murphy confesses all in pounding sound and blinding light
In a grimy and intense film installation, the actor unleashes a torrent of regret, superbly scripted by Max Porter
June 2021
‘A pained love letter to boyhood’: Cillian Murphy and Max Porter on their new film
Their first project saw the actor tormented by a giant crow and pounded at ping-pong. Now the pair have joined forces again for a film exploring guilt and masculinity in an age of mounting dread
April 2021
Books that made me
Edmund de Waal: ‘If I need to forget everything, I read Lee Child. Honestly’
Top 10s
Top 10 books about brothers
March 2021
Top 10s
Top 10 novels set in villages
From Chinua Achebe to Agatha Christie and Shirley Jackson, these books play with our assumptions about small communities
January 2021
'Francis Bacon was my guy': Max Porter on his life-long obsession with the artist
The author reflects on the uncoolness of loving a famous painter, and the inspirations behind his latest book – a reimagining of Bacon’s final days in Madrid
December 2020
Book of the day
The Death of Francis Bacon by Max Porter review – last rites for a great artist
A fragmentary, poetic reimagining of Bacon’s last days in Madrid reads like a private communion with the painter
May 2020
Leading writers take up 'darkness residencies' for art project
Bernardine Evaristo, Max Porter and Raymond Antrobus rise to artist Sam Winston’s challenge in A Delicate Sight to submit to time in blackout
April 2020
Top 10s
Top 10 novels about unconventional families
Books interview
Max Porter: 'Writing allows me to worry about stuff better'
In brief: The Girl With the Louding Voice; Lanny; Fifty Miles Wide – review
Lockdown culture
Novelists pick books to inspire, uplift, and offer escape
November 2019
Bernardine Evaristo, Lee Child and more pick the best books of 2019
Books that made me
Max Porter: ‘Books don’t tend to make me cry. Sentimental TV adverts, on the other hand...'
