Granta Editor Alex Clark Steps Down

Alex Clark, the first female editor of Granta, has left the magazine after only eight months in the position. In a statement released yesterday, the London-based quarterly announced that American editor John Freeman will immediately take the helm as acting editor.

Clark joined Granta as deputy editor in 2007 after working for the Observer and the Daily Telegraph. She replaced Jason Cowley last year when he departed for the New Statesman just seven months into his tenure with Granta. A brief news item on the publication’s Web site stated that the “Board would like to thank Alex for her positive contribution to Granta over the past eighteen months, and wishes her every success for the future.”

Freeman, who was appointed editor in the United States last December, is a prolific reviewer and a former president of the National Book Critics Circle. Speaking to the Washington Post yesterday, he declined to comment on Clark’s departure but said that the rest of the masthead remains “pretty much the same.” He also expressed a desire to see Granta “reconnect with the vibrancy of American writing, which has to some extent fallen by the wayside.” As acting editor, Freeman will split his time between London and New York City.