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Meet John Freeman, Granta’s new acting editor

Granta has posted a lengthy online interview with its new acting editor, John Freeman, who stepped into the role last week after the abrupt departure of previous editor Alex Clark. The former president of the National Book Critics Circle, Freeman has been with the renowned literary magazine for less than one year. Described in a recent New York Observer profile as an energetic booster of literature and, in his book reviews, as “the ultimate generalist, writing solid if not always revelatory pieces on fiction, history, poetry and anything else he [feels] like,” Freeman promises to simultaneously “reconnect with the vibrancy of American writing” and bring to the magazine a more global outlook. From the Granta interview:

Culturally, financially, and metaphorically, we don’t live in an Anglo-American world anymore, but even the best magazines – Granta included – do not fully reflect this…. Our culture has become dangerously detached from the world at large. We need to do a better job of finding writers outside of the English language, from all parts of the world – but especially the Middle East, Africa, and Asia – and call on them to tell stories, rather than sending someone from the Anglo-American world to ferry back the news.

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