Alex Grant, Granta's deputy editor, will step into the literary magazine's editor slot vacated by Jason Crowley after he decamped to helm New Statesman just seven months into the job. Clark will be the quarterly's first female editor. Previously, she served as deputy literary editor of the Observer and in the Daily Telegraph's books section.

Three weeks ago, we were scheduled to interview Crowley but he never showed. We chalked it up to a missed connection but perhaps we should have realized something was up.