In this episode of The Writing Life podcast, our Executive Director Peggy Hughes speaks to author Max Porter about his latest novel, Shy.

Max’s first novel Grief Is the Thing with Feathers won the Sunday Times/Peter, Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year, the International Dylan Thomas Prize, the Europese Literatuurprijs and the BAMB Readers’ Award and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize. His second novel, Lanny, was a Sunday Times bestseller and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. The Death of Francis Bacon was praised as a ‘miniature masterpiece’ and his new book, Shy, has been called a ‘miracle of language’.

Peggy and Max’s expansive conversation covers the special power of bookshops, questions of masculinity and vulnerability portrayed through Shy’s protagonist, the musicality of Max’s language, and much more.

Edited by Omni Mix

Image © Francesca Jones