This month’s best paperbacks: Jonathan Coe, Tessa Hadley and more
Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some wonderful new paperbacks, from chilling short stories to a biography of a duke
December 2024
Check us out! The best Guardian and Observer portraits of 2024 – in pictures
‘It can feel quite mysterious’: Alan Garner on writing, folklore and experiencing time slips in the Pennines
October 2024
Where to start with
Where to start with: Alan Garner
As the master of myth and fantasy turns 90 today it’s a good time to look at his wide ranging canon, from Booker-nominated novels to children’s fiction, poetry and essays
September 2024
Book of the day
Powsels and Thrums by Alan Garner review – the magus speaks
A rich collection of poems, talks, memoir and enchantments from the life of Alan Garner
October 2022
Audiobook of the week
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner audiobook review – a mystical time-twisting tale
Peppered with dialect and shortlisted for the Booker prize, this story by Alan Garner is brought vividly to life by narrator Robert Powell
‘The story had been stirring in me for most of my life’: How I wrote a Booker-shortlisted novel
NoViolet Bulawayo, Percival Everett, Alan Garner and others reveal the inspiration for the books up for this year’s award
The Booker prize 2022: watch shortlist readings by Jarvis Cocker, Sharon Horgan and more
Performers read from the novels in contention for this year’s prestigious fiction prize in a series of films made by director Kevin Thomas
September 2022
The Guardian view on Tolkien: much more than special effects
Editorial: Television’s The Rings of Power is the latest proof that fantasy fiction has not lost its grip on culture
‘I’ve no idea how we’ll pick a winner’: the challenge of a spectacular Booker shortlist
From a surreal African kingdom to a Sri Lankan afterlife, via murder, morality, grief and healing … One of this year’s prize judges assesses the six finalists they must choose between
Booker prize: Alan Garner becomes oldest author to be shortlisted
Only British writer on list will collect prize on 88th birthday if successful, but is up against five other books judges say ‘speak powerfully about important things’
July 2022
Booker prize longlist of 13 writers aged 20 to 87 announced
The Booker longlist is thoughtfully curated and gives Alan Garner overdue recognition
Justine Jordan
December 2021
Best books of 2021
Best fiction of 2021
The books of my life
Alan Garner: ‘The Chronicles of Narnia are atrociously written’
November 2021
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner review – the book of a lifetime
Myth meets modern science in a late masterwork brimming with ideas and imagination
October 2021
Book of the day
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner review – a phenomenal late fable
Alan Garner: ‘You don’t want to have a brilliant idea for a novel at the age of 87’
May 2019
Made in ...
Alan Garner on Alderley Edge: ‘The hill was my playground, school and world’
The children’s author on growing up at the foot of the Cheshire cliffs that he would later come to treasure
April 2019
Where Shall We Run to? by Alan Garner review – a hauntingly beautiful memoir
From keeping a hedgehog to trying on gas masks, this wartime memoir is filled with the innocence of childhood
