"[1] In 2007, The Observer stated: "In its blend of memoirs and photojournalism, and in its championing of contemporary realist fiction, Granta has its face pressed firmly against the window, determined to witness the world.

The magazine published juvenilia of a number of writers who later became well known: Geoffrey Gorer, William Empson,[7] Michael Frayn, Ted Hughes, A.

A. Milne,[8] Sylvia Plath, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, John Simpson, and Stevie Smith.

During the 1970s the publication, faced with financial difficulties and increasing levels of student apathy,[6] was rescued by a group of interested postgraduates, including writer and producer Jonathan Levi, journalist Bill Buford, and Peter de Bolla (now Professor of Cultural History and Aesthetics at Cambridge University).

We use the magazine as a yardstick for our books.... We are no longer going to look at what sells as a sort of argument, because it seemed to me that we were in danger of losing our inventiveness about what we wanted to do.

"[22] Authors recently published by Granta Books include Michael Collins, Simon Gray, Anna Funder, Tim Guest, Caspar Henderson, Louise Stern and Olga Tokarczuk.

[25] In 1983, Granta (issue #7) published a list of 20 young British novelists as names to watch out for in the future.

[citation needed] The recognition of Adam Thirlwell[26] and Monica Ali on the 2003 list was controversial, as neither had yet published a novel.

[citation needed] Those controversially excluded in 2003 included Giles Foden, Alex Garland, Niall Griffiths, Zoë Heller, Tobias Hill, Jon McGregor (who won the International Dublin Literary Award less than ten years later), Patrick Neate, Maggie O'Farrell and Rebecca Smith.

[28] Dan Rhodes contacted others on the 2003 list to try to persuade them to make a joint statement in protest against the Iraq War, which was gaining momentum at the time.