Max Porter worked as a bookseller at Daunt Books and was later editorial director of Granta and Portobello Books. In 2015, he published his first novel, Grief Is the Thing With Feathers, which won several awards including the Sunday Times/Peters Fraser and Dunlop young writer of the year and the Dylan Thomas prize. It was later adapted into a play directed by Enda Walsh. His second book, Lanny, was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn prize in 2019 and is being adapted into a film starring Rachel Weisz. Shy, his latest novel, was published by Faber in 2023.