Alan Garner was born in Congleton, Cheshire, in 1934 and grew up in Alderly Edge, where his father's family had lived for more than three hundred years. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and at Magdelen College, Oxford, after which he began writing his first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, at the age of twenty-two.
He is renowned as one of Britain's outstanding writers for young adults and has won many prizes for his writing. In 2001 he was awarded the OBE for services to literature. His books include Elidor, The Owl Service (winner of the Carnegie Medal) , Red Shift, The Stone Book Quartet (winner of the Phoenix Award of America) and, most recently, Strandloper.