All of This Unreal Time — Max Porter at Tjarnarbíó

Porter wrote the piece specifically for Irish actor Cillian Murphy, and bassist Skúli Sverrisson and pianist Magnús Jóhann Ragnarsson will accompany the performance with live improvisation. Each ticket includes a book featuring an Icelandic translation of the work by Þórdís Helgadóttir.

The performance is part of the Evening with a Poet series, organized by Svikaskáld and Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature. Over the past several years, Icelandic poets have welcomed international authors to Mengi for conversations and readings, creating an intimate space for dialogue between writers and giving local readers a chance to explore their work and creative processes.

Authors Brynja Hjálmsdóttir, Fríða Ísberg, and Þórdís Helgadóttir host the evenings. Previous guests include Iranian American poet Kaveh Akbar, Ukrainian American poet Ilya Kaminsky, Danish poet Ursula Andkjær Olsen, and Kim Hyesoon, one of South Korea's most celebrated poets.

Max Porter's appearance marks a major milestone for the series. To accommodate the event's scale, organizers moved Evening with a Poet from Mengi to the 200-seat hall at Tjarnarbíó. The event sold out within days of tickets going on sale, prompting organizers to add extra seating.

Max Porter — between literature and performing arts

As one of the most compelling voices in contemporary British literature, Max Porter has carved out a distinctive space with works that blur the boundaries of fiction, poetry, and drama. He first gained international attention in 2015 with Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, a lyrical, innovative book about a father and his two sons navigating the sudden loss of their mother.

The award-winning work has since been adapted for both stage and screen. Directed by Dylan Southern and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, the film adaptation, The Thing with Feathers, had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Porter later published works including Lanny and Shy, further cementing his reputation as one of his generation's most original writers. He also maintains a long, fruitful artistic collaboration with Cillian Murphy. This partnership sparked All of This Unreal Time, a piece Porter wrote specifically for the actor.

The work grapples with masculinity, anguish, shame, generational cycles, and the possibility of change. Its lyrical yet direct text builds on the interplay of words, music, and performance.

Porter will perform the piece himself at Tjarnarbíó, offering Icelandic audiences a rare opportunity to see the author deliver the text he crafted for Murphy. Following the performance, Brynja Hjálmsdóttir, Þórdís Helgadóttir, and Fríða Ísberg will join Porter to discuss his creative process, the boundaries between prose, poetry, and stage work, and the experimental spirit defining his writing.

As the largest Evening with a Poet event to date, this performance marks a new chapter for a program that has spent years creating spaces for Icelandic readers to meet international authors up close.

Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature and Reykjavík Music City support the event.

This event is sold out.