'''Alan Garner''' [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (born [[Congleton]] [[October 17]], [[1934]]) is an English writer whose work is firmly rooted in [[Cheshire]].
==Biography==
Alan Garner spent his early childhood in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, England, and he remains associated with the area. Many of his works are drawn from local legends and locations. Such works include ''[[The Weirdstone of Brisingamen]]'', ''[[The Moon of Gomrath]]'', and ''[[The Owl Service]]''. He attended [[Manchester Grammar School]] (where a library is named after him) and studied classics at Oxford.
His early books were [[fantasy fiction|fantasy]], marketed for [[Children's literature|children]], though he was not ever comfortable with being labeled simply as a "children's writer", saying he had no intention one way or the other about writing specifically for children.<ref>[http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/intrvws/garner.htm Garner Interview]</ref>
His most recent works (''Strandloper'' and ''Thursbitch'') are more suited for adult readers. ''[[The Stone Book]]'' (which received the [[Phoenix Award]] in 1996) is poetic in style and inspiration. Garner pays particular attention to language, and strives to render the cadence of the Cheshire tongue in modern English. This he explains by the sense of anger he felt on reading "[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]": the footnotes would not have been needed by his father. This and other aspects of his writing are the subject of Neil Philip's ''[[A Fine Anger]], (Collins, 1981)'', which offers a detailed analysis of his work.
His most recent novel is ''Thursbitch''. Other works have won the Guardian Award, the Carnegie Medal, and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, as well as the Chicago International Film Festival 1st Prize for his educational film "Images."
His collection of essays and public talks, ''[[The Voice That Thunders]]'', contains much autobiographical material (including an account of his life with [[bipolar disorder]]), as well as critical reflection upon folklore and language, literature and education, the nature of myth and time. Garner is an accomplished public speaker.
The author [[Philip Pullman]] is a strong admirer, and ''[[The Weirdstone of Brisingamen]]'' and ''[[The Owl Service]]'' are acknowledged classics of children's literature.
He was awarded the [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire|OBE]] for services to literature in the [[2001]] [[British honours system|New Year's Honours list]].
==Bibliography==
===Novels===
* ''[[The Weirdstone of Brisingamen]]'' (1960)
* ''[[The Moon of Gomrath]]'' (1963) - Sequel to ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen''
* ''[[Elidor]]'' (1965)
* ''[[The Owl Service]]'' (1967)
* ''[[Red Shift (novel)|Red Shift]]'' (1973)
* ''[[Strandloper]]'' (1996)
* ''[[Thursbitch]]'' (2003)
===Collections===
* ''[[The Stone Book Quartet]]'' (1979) - Collection of the four ''The Stone Book'' short stories.
===Short Stories===
* ''A Book of Goblins'' (ed) (1972)
* ''[[The Stone Book]]'' (1976) - First story in ''The Stone Book''.
* ''[[Tom Fobble's Day]]'' (1977) - Second story in ''The Stone Book''.
* ''[[Granny Reardun]]'' (1977) - Third story in ''The Stone Book''.
* ''[[The Aimer Gate]]'' (1978) - Fourth story in ''The Stone Book''.
* ''A Bag of Moonshine'' (1986)
===Essays and Lectures===
* ''[[The Voice That Thunders]]'' - A collection of essays and lectures
===Edited===
* ''[[The Guizer]]'' (1975) - A collection of stories about fools.
* ''[[A Bag of Moonshine]]'' (1986) - A collection of 22 stories chosen from the folklore of England and Wales.
==TV Drama==
* ''The Owl Service'' (1969) - A British TV series by Granada Television based on Garner's novel of the same name.
* ''Red Shift'' (BBC, transmitted [[17 January]] [[1978]]) - Directed by John Mackenzie; part of the BBC's ''Play for Today'' series.
* ''To Kill a King'' (1980) - Part of the BBC series of plays on supernatural themes, ''Leap in the Dark'': an atmospheric story about a writer overcoming depression and writer's block. The hero's home appears to be Garner's own house.
==Awards==
*'[[The Owl Service]]' won the [[Guardian Award]] and the [[Carnegie Medal]] in 1968
*'[[The Stone Book]]' received the [[Phoenix Award]] from the Children's Literature Association (USA) in 1996
*The [[Lewis Carroll Shelf Award]]
*The 1981 film 'Images' won First Prize at the [[Chicago International Film Festival]]
*[[Karl Edward Wagner]] Award (Special Award) won in 2003
==External links==
* [http://members.ozemail.com.au/~xenophon/ Unoffical web site for Alan Garner]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-202,00.html Article by the Guardian Unlimited along with assorted links and author ###############]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1241337/ Alan Garner at the IMDb]
* [http://www.harpercollinschildrensbooks.co.uk/authors/Interview.aspx?id=647&aid=2044 Interview with Alan Garner on 'The Stone Book Quartet']
*[http://elimae.com/essays/renner/quartet.html/ A review of ''The Stone Book Quartet'' and ''Red Shift'']
*[http://elimae.com/fiction/garner/thursbitch.html/ An excerpt from ''Thursbitch'']
*[http://elimae.com/reviews/garner/thursbitch.html/ A review of ''Thursbitch'']
*[http://elimae.com/interviews/garner.html/ An interview with Alan Garner]
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garner, Alan}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:English short story writers]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:English fantasy writers]]
[[Category:Guardian award winners]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Cheshire]]
[[Category:People with bipolar disorder]]
[[Category:Old Mancunians]]
[[de:Alan Garner]]
[[es:Alan Garner]]
[[ja:アラン・ガーナー]]
[[sv:Alan Garner]]