Alex Bowler revealed as Faber's new publisher

Granta's executive publisher Alex Bowler has been appointed to the coveted role of publisher at Faber.

Bowler will join Faber on 3rd September, reporting directly to chief executive Stephen Page. He will also join the Faber board.

There has been much speculation in the trade as to who would replace Mitzi Angel in the role of publisher at Faber since her surprise decision to return to New York to take up the role of senior vice president and publisher at her former firm Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) was announced in March.

Bowler said: “I am immensely excited and profoundly honoured to be joining Faber, whose originality and courage, independence and extraordinary heritage have forever inspired me as a reader and publisher. I cannot wait to get to work on building the next chapter of that history with such an impressive, expert team.”

He added: “At the same time, I am of course extremely sad to be leaving Granta, where I have encountered such skill and generosity in my brilliant colleagues. I know they will continue to achieve outstanding things together.”

Page said Bowler, who joined Granta in 2016 after 10 years with Jonathan Cape, was an “outstanding editor and publisher”.

“His wide experience, both as a fiercely intelligent acquiring editor and also as a manager and leader, is an exciting addition to Faber's Senior Team and Board,” Page said.

“He arrives at a time of enormous success and renewal for Faber. Mitzi Angel leaves a brilliant publishing legacy as she heads back to New York, and in Alex we have found the perfect champion to build on her work and take the company to even greater publishing success. Faber's publishing, past and present, has always represented a commitment to originality and literary excellence and I am sure Alex's leadership of our talented editorial team will continue to recast this for a new generation of writers and readers.”

Bowler joined Granta in 2016 as publishing director and was appointed executive publisher in June 2017, taking on the running of all aspects of the company's business.

Previously in his decade at Cape, he rose from assistant editor to deputy publishing director. There he developed a list of prize-winning literary writers, including Evie Wyld, Tom McCarthy, Kevin Barry and Colin Barrett, while also working as editor to some of the imprint's most important authors, including Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes and Helen Fielding.

Faber was named the Independent Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards last week.

Granta has said it has not yet found a replacement for Bowler.