London, The British library has acquired the archives of the prestigious Granta magazine, covering 40 years since the literary journal was relaunched, and spanning the work of Nobel Laureates to debut novelists.
Now permanently housed in the British Library, the archives are hailed as a significant source for understanding the landscape of contemporary British writing and publishing. It comprises around 300 boxes of material.
The archives includes marked-up proofs, back issues, original correspondence to authors, agents and literary organisations and documents on readership, marketing, design, financials and other administrative concerns, the Library said.
It features letters and papers from well-known authors such as Kazuo Ishiguro (2017 Nobel Prize winner), Margaret Atwood, J.G. Ballard, Angela Carter, Iris Murdoch, Ben Okri, Fay Weldon, Martin Amis, John Berger, Raymond Carver, Doris Lessing and Martha Gellhorn.
Granta magazine was founded by Cambridge university students in 1889 before being re-launched in 1979 by editor Bill Buford, who transformed it into one of the world’s most important literary periodicals.
“The material generated from 40 years of publishing Granta does so much more than simply showcase the history of our beloved literary quarterly: it also reveals how a plucky American, determined to shake things up by bringing new, edgy American writing to British readers, accidently ended up championing some of Britain’s – and indeed the world’s – most exciting writers,” Sigrid Rausing, Editor of Granta, said.
Granta initially relaunched in 1979 to promote American writing in Britain. It has launched the careers of some of Britain’s most significant contemporary writers, the British Library said.
