Powsels and Thrums

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I salute him with the most heartfelt respect and admiration PHILIP PULLMAN

One of Britains greatest writers FINANCIAL TIMES

Alan Garners world is unbearably beautiful and dangerous GUARDIAN

In this lyrical and revelatory memoir, Alan Garner, Booker shortlisted author of Treacle Walker, traces the line of his life: from a working-class childhood in the landscape of Cheshire during World War II, through a grammar school education and on to the University of Oxford, and then home to see if he could become what he most desired: a writer.

We see the serendipitous moments that drove his course, from coming-of-age in a period of great cultural change, to crossing paths with a famous mathematician while out long-distance running, to the fateful day he chanced across Blackden, the medieval hall, miraculously located next to the giant telescope at Jodrell Bank, that was to become his lasting home and the setting for Treacle Walker.

As Garner tells us, a lifetime of working with a pen produces the powsels and thrums of research, imagination and story. These oddments can be shaped into something more than its parts: a vivid tapestry of a creative life that will inspire any reader, and what a celebration it is.

'Better than anyone else writing in English today' THE TIMES

A unique genius NEW STATESMAN

One of the most distinct and profound writers we have GUARDIAN

Reviews

Praise for Alan Garner

'His work has a symphonic quality unique in fiction' The Times

'Garner is his own man taut, powerful, credible' Penelope Lively, Independent

A unique genius New Statesman

His is a consummate artist's vision that matches landscape and people and story Ralph Elliott, Labrys 7

Praise for Powsels and Thrums

Who could resist such a title The term derives from handloom weaving, Alan Garners great-grandfathers trade, and refers to the scraps of cloth that weavers kept for themselves an evocative metaphor for the writings collected herein These snippets, produces on the same magical loom, together attain a mesmerizing wholeness, vibrating with life and curiosity Observer

A creative manifesto We are all the richer for it Byline Times

Sublime, filled with meaning Bookmunch

Mind-bending, but all of a piece Garnerworld might be a narrow plot, but hes dug it deep, in every sense Garner is a magus. Read him. Guardian

A sequence of work collected from various sources across the years which offers a remarkable window into Garners mind and heart. I use the word window advisedly, for Garners prose is as clear as glass, perfectly conveying the precision of his thought You dont have to know his work well to become immersed in this little book Spectator

He [Alan Garner] calls the pieces collected here the powsels and thrums of research and experience and imagination and story. Together they weave into something quite thrilling New Statesman

Hes a complete one-off, Garner Entrancing Sam Leith, Telegraph

Alan Garner's themes are huge, urgent, compassionate, his voice distinguished by clarity, compression, precision, depth of feeling and sharpness of thought Neil Philip, A Fine Anger: A Critical Introduction to the Work of Alan Garner

Author Bio

Alan Garner was born and still lives in Cheshire, an area which has had a profound effect on his writing and provided the seed of many ideas worked out in his books. His fourth book, The Owl Service' brought Alan Garner to everyone's attention. It won two important literary prizes The Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal and was made into a serial by Granada Television. It has established itself as a classic and Alan Garner as a writer of great distinction.