Josie Mitchell
Senior Editor, Granta magazine
As senior editor, I commission and publish work for both the print magazine and granta.com, in particular longform reportage, narrative non-fiction, memoir and literary fiction. In fiction, I admire work that understands narrative tension, and that balances experiment with robust storytelling: Renata Adler, Thomas Bernhard, Octavia Butler, Patricia Highsmith, Jamaica Kincaid, Fleur Jaeggy, Marie NDiaye, Jenny Offill and Diane Williams. In non-fiction, I appreciate writing that is both playful and precise: Hilton Als, John Berger, Elif Batuman, Eula Biss, Annie Ernaux, Mary Gaitskill, Saidiya Hartman, Derek Jarman, Patrick Radden Keefe, Janet Malcolm, Maggie Nelson and Claudia Rankine. A recommendation: Janet Malcolm’s Forty-One False Starts – the title essay is made up of forty-one attempts to begin an essay on David Salle, each one different. It’s a testament to Malcolm’s obsessive commitment to her craft.
