About this Event
This Event will include a discussion wth Alan Garner’s daughter Elizabeth and actor Robert Powell about Garner's body of work, connection to place, language and landscape. It will detail Robert’s experience of working with Alan's text from debut fantasy novel The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, to the Booker Prize Shortlisted Treacle Walker and his most recent collection of essays and creative work Powsels and Thrums.
PLEASE NOTE: Alan Garner will not be in attendance at this event. The event is a discussion on his life and work and aimed at those aged 16+
Robert Powell
Robert Powell is a veteran actor who has worked alongside Alan since the early 1970s, narrating each of his books into audio format. Both were educated at Manchester Grammar School.
Robert’s many film appearances include 'Secrets' 'Running Scared', 'The Asphyx', Liliana Cavani’s 'Beyond Good and Evil', Merchant Ivory’s 'Jane Austen in Manhatten', Sergio Nasca’s 'D'Annuuzio', 'The Survivor', 'The Jigsaw Man', Krzyzstof Zanussi’s 'The Long conversation with a Bird', Dale Bradley’s acclaimed New Zealand film 'Chunuk Bair' and 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood'. For Ken Russell, he played the title role in 'Mahler' and Captain Walker in 'Tommy' and was Richard Hannay in 'The 39 Steps'. He won Best Actor Award at the Paris Film Festival for 'Harlequin' and was adjudged Best Actor at Venice Film Festival for his performance in 'Imperative', directed by Krzystof Zanussi.
For his portrayal of ‘Jesus’ in Franco Zefferelli’s 'Jesus of Nazareth', Robert received Best Actor awards from TV Times and Italian TV Times, The International Arts Prize at the Fiuggi Film Festival, Grand Prize at the Saint-Vincent Film Festival and a nomination as Best Actor from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Powsels and Thrums
In this lyrical and revelatory memoir, Alan Garner, Booker Prize-shortlisted author ofTreacle Walker, reflects on the lifetime of learning and experience that has led him to become one of the best loved British writers of our time.
In dazzling essays, poetry and stories, we trace 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, a medieval hall located next to the giant telescope at Jodrell Bank, that was to become his lasting home and the setting forTreacle Walker.
We also hear the influences and ideas that have shaped his work: his grandfather Joseph and family of craftsmen; the history, folklore and ancient landscape of Cheshire; a profound love of storytelling across the ages and a sense of wonder for the ineffable magic of creativity.
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.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Blackwell's Bookshop, 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford, United Kingdom
GBP 6.00
