Alan Garner, the English author and folklorist, turns 92 today.

Amongst his most recognised works are the 'Alderley Edge' trilogy (The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, 1960, The Moon of Gomrath, 1963, Boneland, 2012) and The Owl Service (1967) which won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British author. It was later adapted into a successful TV series in 1969.

'Conciousness is on the move. Something is at work in the world: a general recognition of the crisis of the spirit, of the banal and shoddy, in human affairs. It is universal and it must be met'