Max Porter Will Read His Novel GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS Live From Union Chapel

Wayward Productions today announces that Max Porter will read his bestselling first novel, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, at Islington's Union Chapel on Sunday 25 October at 7.45pm. The one-off live streamed event has been organised as a fundraiser for the iconic London venue, with ticket proceeds also going to The Margins Project, the Chapel's homelessness charity.

Max Porter's multi-award-winning novel, which has been translated into thirty languages, has never been read in public, in its entirety, by the author. This project renews Porter's collaboration with Wayward Productions, who produced the stage play adaptation of the novel by Enda Walsh, starring Cillian Murphy.

Grief is the Thing with Feathers is a bed-time story for grownups about the universal experience of loss. It is about childhood, parenting, poetry and pain. It is about the infinite wisdom of crows. It is a dark, weird and beautiful book, the perfect book to hear in these times. It is an impassioned blast of literature and love, a celebration of language, and a raging heartbroken song for all of us.

Published in 2015, the book won the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year, the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction and the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize.

Max Porter said, "In September 2020 the Union Chapel were going to host a project I'd devised called The English Soundwood, a multidisciplinary portrait of the UK today with poets, singers, musicians and novelists. Like so many live events, it was postponed, and like so many venues around the world, the Union Chapel needs support. So we are doing a one-off gig, where I'll read the whole of Grief is the Thing with Feathers, and proceeds will go to the Union Chapel and their extraordinary charity The Margins Project, which supports people facing homelessness. I've never read the whole book before, and I'm honoured to be doing so in this iconic and beautiful venue, for such a good cause. I hope people will join us, virtually, and enjoy being read a story."

Wayward Productions Judith Dimant added, "We're thrilled to renew our collaboration with Max Porter for this very special one-off event streamed live from Union Chapel in aid of the chapel and its Margins Project for the homeless. We're living in a time of great uncertainty and it is vital we do all we can to support vulnerable people at this as well as secure the future of such a well-loved venue."

Max Porter is the author of the bestselling Grief is the Thing with Feathers (Faber & Faber, 2015), which won the International Dylan Thomas Prize, the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award, the Europeese Literatuurprijs and the Books Are My Bag Reader's Award, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and The Goldsmiths Prize. It has been sold to 27 territories. His second novel Lanny was published in 2019, and recently released in paperback. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize and is currently being adapted into a feature film.

Wayward Productions' first production was Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, directed by Enda Walsh and starring Cillian Murphy. It was seen in London and New York in 2019.

The company is currently developing Christie Watson's best-selling nursing memoir The Language of Kindness. This was scheduled for Autumn 2020 but will now hopefully be produced in Spring 2021.

In Summer 2020 the company produced Shifts for BBC Radio 3's Between the Ears strand as part of the BBC Culture in Quarantine season and the company is also working with the Schaubühne Theatre, Berlin on Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich Von Kleist, directed by Annabel Arden and Simon McBurney.

Wayward is also developing Babette Cole's iconic children's book Princess Smartypants with the Wardrobe Ensemble and will be continuing its collaboration with Max Porter in 2021

Wayward was founded by producer Judith Dimant following her 25 years as producer at Complicité, producing all of Simon McBurney's work

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