Granta, esteemed literary magazine and publisher, is going through a massive restructure as owner/philanthropist Sigrid Rausing takes more stringent control of the company. Magazine editor John Freeman announced he would be leaving to take a creative writing professorship at Columbia.  Also resigning are deputy editor Ellah Allfrey, publisher Philip Gwyn Jones, the art director, and the associate editor. Some of the reason behind these major changes can be attributed to Rausing’s decision to get more involved and save money as Granta continues to take a loss. Rausing will take over executive control of the company’s operations.

Rausing feels that the best way to move forward with Granta is to combine its magazine and book components. She plans to merge the positions of magazine editor (previously held by Freeman) and books executive publisher (previously held by Gwyn Jones) into a singular Editor-In Chief position. The position will be filled later this summer. According to Rausing: “The economic realities of [a] small imprint publishing today has made it obvious that we need the magazine and books to be a single entity to exploit the synergy between them.”

Philip Gwyn Jones released a statement praising his Granta group saying he was “immensely proud of all the achievements of the Granta/Portabella team over these past eight years, but most especially of the manner in which [his] team has played the publishing game.” He went on to wish Rausing luck in the next phase of Granta’s progression. According to Gwyn Jones, its book division “is in really great shape, with some very exciting young talents coming through, authors and staff alike. As of today, nine different books of ours are on nine different prize shortlists, and there will be more to come later this year.” John Freeman seemed less supportive of the decision to merge. In an emailed statement, Freeman stated that “Sigrid decided a while back she wanted to run the magazine and books on a very reduced staff…I didn’t want to be part of that change, or the smaller ship, because I’ve seen us make huge reductions in losses by growing. Working as a team.” Rausing maintains that there are many differing reasons behind so many of her staff leaving, not all of them related.

Links: http://www.mhpbooks.com/more-turnover-at-granta/ , http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/23/granta-high-profile-resignations-sigrid-rausing?INTCMP=SRCH