Grief Is the Thing with Feathers is the debut book by Max Porter, a novella about grief, published in 2015.
Details Grief Is the Thing with Feathers is a "book about death and its grief-stricken consolations – love and art" through the story "of a grieving writer and father of two young boys, who is coming to terms with the death of his wife while writing a book about Ted Hughes". It uses text, dialogue and poetry. The book is narrated from rapidly alternating perspectives: the Dad, the Boys, and Crow—a human-sized bird that can speak, "equal parts babysitter, philosopher and therapist" to the family.
The title refers to a poem by Emily Dickinson, "Hope' is the thing with feathers". Crow is the Crow from Ted Hughes' 1970 poetry book.
Awards YearAwardCategoryResult.2015Goldsmiths Prize— Guardian First Book Award— 2016Books Are My Bag Readers' AwardFiction Dylan Thomas Prize— Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award— 2017Europese Literatuurprijs— Adaptations Grief Is the Thing with Feathers was adapted into a play of the same name, directed by Enda Walsh and starring Cillian Murphy.
A film adaptation starring Benedict Cumberbatch, titled The Thing with Feathers premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on 25 January 2025.
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