Granta is a magazine with a long history, having made several comebacks over a period of 130 years. It was founded in 1889 in Cambridge, England, and published the works of Cambridge scholars. Over the years, it has included works by Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Zadie Smith, Bill Bryson, and Kazuo Ishiguro. It bills itself as “The Magazine of New Writing” and that bears true in the submission guidelines: the magazine accepts only first run works. Otherwise, the magazine publishes essays, stories, poems, and photographic essays on a variety of topics.
In terms of audience and purpose, the magazine is less clear. Beyond a desire to publish only new writing, the magazine’s website indicates that “Granta does not have a literary or political manifesto, but it does have a belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate, and make real” (http://www.granta.com). Granta publishes both non-fiction, in categories it breaks down variously as “Non-Fiction”, “Reportage”, and “Memoir”, and fiction in each issue.
One item of note with regard to Granta is that each issue has a theme, which may be broad or narrow. The issue currently on newsstands as this is written is #112, is themed “Pakistan”, and contains works by and about Pakistanis and Pakistan, including the land and its people. This issue contained less creative nonfiction. The issue prior, #111, was themed “Going Back”, and contained works that dealt with characters reflecting on past loves, once popular music or styles, and reconsidering the continued relevance of favorite authors. The essays "Mum and Fritz" and "Utterly Dylan" are examples of the creative nonfiction they have accepted.
This may make it sound like the magazine will accept anything, but this is not entirely true. Their submission guidelines are a list of what they will not accept: book reviews, academic essays, straight reporting, genre fiction, or travel writing without a story. The magazine emphasizes the desire for a narrative focus, and a “point”, in all submissions. It also says that some pieces may bend or break these rules at times, but that in general they hold. Granta reminds those interested in submitting work that they receive a huge number of submissions each day, of which they are unable to publish most, despite how well some of them may be written.
As far as the technical elements of a submission:
• Do not submit works previously published in English.
• Submit no more than two stories or five poems at any one time.
• Do not submit by email, as Granta only accepts post submissions.
• Granta will not return unsuccessful submissions, so there is no need to include a SASE.
• Granta does not acknowledge receipt of submissions, and tries to read all submissions within three months of receipt. A response will be emailed after that time indicating whether or not the submission will be published.
• The cover letter need only include a brief summary of the piece as well as where you have published works previously.
• The maximum length is 4000 words.
There is no definite indication of the pay scale of Granta, except that the pay for submissions varies and generally is based on the market rates. The magazine buys at least the world English language rights and first serial rights in unsolicited manuscripts.
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