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 Granta 142 | |
| Editor | Thomas Meaney |
|---|---|
| Categories | Literary magazine |
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Publisher | Sigrid Rausing |
| Total circulation (2023) | 23,000 |
| Founded | 1889; 136 years ago (1889) |
| First issue | Relaunch: 1 September 1979 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Based in | London |
| Language | English |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 0017-3231 |
Granta is aliterary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real."[1] In 2007,The Observer stated: "In its blend of memoirs and photojournalism, and in its championing of contemporary realist fiction,Granta has its face pressed firmly against the window, determined to witness the world."[2]
Granta has published twenty-seven laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature.[1] Literature published byGranta has regularly won such prizes as theForward Prize,T. S. Eliot Prize,Pushcart Prize and more.[3]
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![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: coverage of the first decades of the journal, its reception, and its influence. You can help byadding to it.(June 2016) |
Granta was founded in 1889[4] by students atCambridge University asThe Granta, edited byR. C. Lehmann (who later became a major contributor toPunch). It was started as a periodical featuring student politics, badinage and literary efforts.[5] The title was taken from theRiver Granta, the medieval name for theCam,[6] the river that runs through the city but is now used only for that river's upper reaches. An early editor of the magazine wasR. P. Keigwin, the English cricketer and Danish scholar; in 1912–13, the editor was poet, writer and reviewerEdward Shanks.[7]
In this form, the magazine had a long and distinguished history. The magazine publishedjuvenilia of a number of writers who later became well known:Geoffrey Gorer,William Empson,[8]Michael Frayn,Ted Hughes,A. A. Milne,[9]Sylvia Plath,Bertram Fletcher Robinson,John Simpson, andStevie Smith.
During the 1970s, the publication faced financial difficulties and increasing levels of student apathy,[7] and was rescued by a group of interestedpostgraduates, including writer and producerJonathan Levi, journalistBill Buford, and Peter de Bolla (now Professor of Cultural History and Aesthetics atCambridge University). In 1979, it was successfully relaunched as a magazine of "new writing",[10] with both writers and audience drawn from the world beyond Cambridge. The magazine's first issue as a national publication was entitled "New American Writing".[11]Bill Buford (who wroteAmong the Thugs originally as a project for the journal) was the editor for its first 16 years in the new incarnation. During this time, the staff includedRichard Rayner and the novelistCarole Morin.Ian Jack succeeded Buford, editingGranta from 1995 until 2007.[12]
Since 2003,Granta has been published in Spain in Spanish.[13][14] In April 2007, it was announced thatJason Cowley, editor of theObserver Sport Monthly, would succeed Jack as editor in September 2007. Cowley redesigned and relaunched the magazine; he also launched a new website. In September 2008, he left after having been selected as editor of theNew Statesman.[15]
Alex Clark, a former deputy literary editor ofThe Observer, succeeded him as the first female editor ofGranta.[16] In late May 2009, Clark left the publication[17] andJohn Freeman, the American editor, took over the magazine.[17]
As of 2023[update],Granta's circulation is 23,000.[18] In the 164th issue Sigrid Rausing, who had served as editor since 2013, announced she would turn over editorship to Thomas Meaney with the Autumn issue of 2023.[19]
In 1994, Rea Hederman, owner ofThe New York Review of Books, took a controlling stake in the magazine.[20] In October 2005, control of the magazine was bought bySigrid Rausing.[21] Rausing established the Granta Trust in 2019 as the owner of the magazine.
In 1989, then-editor Buford foundedGranta Books.[22] Granta's stated aim for its book publishing imprint is to publish work that "stimulates, inspires, addresses difficult questions, and examines intriguing periods of history." Owner Sigrid Rausing has been vocal about her goal to maintain these standards for both the magazine and the book imprint, telling theFinancial Times, "[Granta] will not publish any books that could not potentially be extracted in the magazine. We use the magazine as a yardstick for our books.... We are no longer going to look at what sells as a sort of argument, because it seemed to me that we were in danger of losing our inventiveness about what we wanted to do."[23] Authors recently published by Granta Books includeMichael Collins,Simon Gray,Anna Funder,Tim Guest,Caspar Henderson,Louise Stern andOlga Tokarczuk.[citation needed]
When Rausing purchasedGranta, she brought with her the publishing imprintPortobello Books, founded in 2005; as of January 2019 the Portobello Books imprint was closed, with all its contracted authors thereafter published under the Granta Books imprint.[24] Granta Books are distributed byThe Book Service in the UK.[25] Granta Books are distributed byIngram Publisher Services in the US.[26]
In 1983,Granta (issue #7) published a list of 20 young British novelists as names to watch out for in the future. Since then, the magazine has repeated its recognition of emerging writers in 1993 (issue #43), 2003 (issue #81) and 2013 (issue #123). In 1996 (issue #54),Granta published a similar list of promising young American novelists, which was repeated during 2007 (issue #97). In 2010Granta issue #113 was devoted to the best young Spanish-language novelists. Many of the selections have been prescient. At least 12 of those identified have subsequently either won or been short-listed for major literary awards such as theBooker Prize andWhitbread Prize.[citation needed]
The recognition ofAdam Thirlwell[27] andMonica Ali on the 2003 list was controversial, as neither had yet published a novel.[28] Thirlwell'sdebut novel,Politics, later met with mixed reviews. Ali'sBrick Lane was widely praised.[citation needed] Those controversially excluded in 2003 includedGiles Foden,Alex Garland,Niall Griffiths,Zoë Heller,Tobias Hill,Jon McGregor (who won theInternational Dublin Literary Award less than ten years later),Patrick Neate,Maggie O'Farrell and Rebecca Smith.[29]
Dan Rhodes contacted others on the 2003 list to try to persuade them to make a joint statement in protest against theIraq War, which was gaining momentum at the time. Not all the writers responded. Rhodes was so disappointed he considered stopping writing, but has continued.[30]
In 2023, the list for the first time included international writers who view the UK as their home.[31]
As with other bodies giving awards to younger writers,Granta has been accused of contributing toageism in the publishing industry by promoting an age-restricted list.[32][33] Writing inThe Times,Erica Wagner complained about the ageism of theGranta list, as well as its predictability.[34] Writing inThe Guardian,Joanna Walsh argues that age-restricted awards also unfairly discriminate against women, people of colour, LGBTQ people, and other groups that might come late to writing.[35] Writing in theIrish Examiner, she queried the arbritrariness of the age limits, noting thatGranta's sister publication in the Spanish-speaking world sets an age limit of 35 for the same award. She also noted that age restriction of this sort is legislated against in employment.[36] David Cutler of the Baring Foundation is among those who pointed out that theTurner Prize abolished its age limit in 2017, six years before the latestGranta list.[37] Writers selected for the list have also complained about its discrimination.Yara Rodrigues Fowler tweeted that “Age cut offs are discriminatory to women, carers, disabled + working class ppl” and make for "a more boring and homogenous literature".[36]Philip Hensher has said that he "regards such age-related line-ups as artificial and particularly unfair to women".[38]
