Tuesday, March 25, 2008


GRANTA 100

In 1979, a young American graduate, Bill Buford, revived an old Cambridge university magazine and created a home for good writing of all kinds—reportage, fiction, memoir, biography—as well as photography and, occasionally, poetry.
In the years that followed, Granta established itself on both sides of the Atlantic, and continues to publish the best new writing in English from all over the world. This special issue celebrates Granta’s 100th issue.

Yesterday, Easter Monday, I bought a copy at Lesley McKay's wonderful Sydney bookstore, to read on the way home on the plane. It has been guest-edited by novelist William Boyd and it is full of previously unpublished fiction gems. As well as poetry and photographs.The cover art is by David Hockney.

I particularly enjoyed Something To Tell You by Hanif Kureishi, an extract from his forthcoming novel of the same name but there are contributions from Martin Amis, James Fenton, Alan Hollinghurst, Doris Lessing, Mario Vargas Llosa, Ian McEwan, Jayne Anne Phillips, Harold Pinter, Craig Raine, Salman Rushdie and a host of others. It's a gem with a great introduction by William Boyd.

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