First Light

For more than 50 years, Alan Garner has enraptured generations of readers with works like The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, The Owl Service, Red Shift, and The Stone Book Quartet. Described by Philip Pullman as 'the most important British writer of fantasy since Tolkein', Alan Garner has inspired readers and writers alike.

Now, in celebration of his 80th birthday, comes First Light. A collaboration by many of the acclaimed writers, artists, archaeologists and historians he has influenced over the years, this anthology includes original contributions from David Almond, Margaret Atwood, John Burnside, Susan Cooper, Helen Dunmore, Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Garner, Paul Kingsnorth, Katherine Langrish, Helen Macdonald, Robert Macfarlane, Gregory Maguire, Neel Mukherjee, Philip Pullman, Ali Smith, Elizabeth Wein, Michael Wood, and many, many more.

Whether a literary essay, a personal response to Alan's work, a memory of the first time they read his work, or a story about the man himself, each piece is a tribute to his remarkable impact.

Edited by the acclaimed literary journalist and novelist, Erica Wagner, First Light is a striking collection that will touch the heart of anyone who grew up reading the works of Alan Garner.

Erica Wagner?is an author and journalist, born in New York City, but resident in London. Her first job was helping her mother open the fan mail for?The Muppets, but she came to England in the 1980s, and was educated at Cambridge and the University of East Anglia, where she was taught by Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. She went on to become the Literary Editor of?The Times?between 1996 and 2013.

Erica is the author of?Gravity?(1997) a collection of short stories and?Ariel’s Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and the Story of Birthday Letters?(2000). Her first novel?Seizure?(2007) was described by the writer Claire Messud as ‘lyrical, compelling, profoundly unsettling…a novel like no other’. As well as editing?First Light?she is working on a new book,?The Chief Engineer: A Biography of Washington Roebling, the Man Who Built Brooklyn Bridge.

She has judged many literary prizes including the Orange Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Prize, the Forward Prize for poetry and twice been a judge for the Man Booker Prize.