Max Porter, Author of Lanny Book

Porter won hearts as well as awards with his unique and moving debut, Grief is the Thing with Feathers. His new novel is an equally magical gem. Set in a village an hour away from London, it combines the day-to-day rhythms of ordinary modern life with an ancient order represented by a mythical figure known as Dead Papa Toothwort. A protective spirit, Dead Papa is the stuff of traditional games and schoolchildren’s drawings—showing him green and leafy, often choking on tendrils, inventively replicated in the language of Porter’s book. Then one day he wakes up. Listening to the voices around him, he’s alert to one that belongs to a newcomer, a bright and mischievous boy named Lanny…

Porter will be in conversation with Martha Anne Toll, regular book critic for NPR and Executive Director of the Butler Family Fund, a philanthropic organization supporting advocacy to prevent and end homelessness and reform the criminal justice system.