First Light: Alan Garner and Deep Time – Erica Wagner in conversation with Dr Teresa Anderson followed by a rare public appearance and book signing with Alan Garner.

First Light is an unique celebration of the brilliant sci-fi author Alan Garner, whose numerous awards include the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Award, the Phoenix Award of America and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.

Alan Garner lives next door to Jodrell Bank and has been inspired by the Lovell telescope throughout his career. Erica Wagner, editor of First Light, a new anthology celebrating Garner’s work, will be in conversation with Dr Teresa Anderson, and we’re delighted to confirm Alan Garner will be making an extremely rare appearance at Bluedot, to sign books.

Jodrell Bank is a place which embodies the belief that art and science have no boundaries between them — and the work of Alan Garner, with its roots in the deep history of Cheshire, and the deep history of the Universe, also exemplifies this belief. The title of First Light was coined by Alan himself as a celebration in itself of the work of Jodrell Bank.

The new anthology contains contributions not only from eminent literary authors such as Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Stephen Fry, Philip Pullman and Ali Smith, but also from a physicist (Professor Robert Cywinski of Hull University), archaeologists (Professor Mark Edmonds of York, Francis Pryor, discoverer of Flag Fen) and historians – Professor Ronald Hutton of Bristol University and Professor Michael Wood, who latest television documentary is a BBC series on the history of China.

Teresa and Erica will discuss Alan’s work, each of them speaking about what it means to them – Teresa from the world of science and Erica from world of the arts. There will be plenty of time for questions from the audience, and after the event Alan Garner will be available to sign books, a very rare occurrence indeed.