'Fine mind and right skills blend' won Bowler Faber post

Alex Bowler's "fine and curious mind", and the mix of skills he brought from his previous roles at both Jonathan Cape and Granta, together won him the coveted Faber publisher post, chief executive Stephen Page has said.

The appointment of Bowler, Granta's executive editor, as Mitzi Angel's replacement in the high-profile Faber role was confirmed on Friday (25th May), after weeks of intense anticipation in the industry.

Page has now elaborated on the reasons for the choice, telling The Bookseller: "This role is a large and challenging one and you have to have a blend of acute skills. At the heart of that is literary judgement - Faber is absolutely committed to original literary publishing so you must have a sense of your own taste, and taste wider than that.

"You also have to be a strong editor on the page. Faber is an editorially centred company - with strong commercial skills - so you have to be able both to identify excellent work and to work with writers, in the way it is sometimes wrongly said publishing doesn't do any more. To lead a team of editors you have to set high standards, and at Cape Alex edited important writers on the page, very closely, and received high praise." Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes were among the authors that Bowler is cited as having worked with during his decade at the PRH literary imprint.

A further skill needed by the Faber publisher is leading an editorial team acquiring in sometimes specialist areas, such as poetry and drama, added Page. "You have to deal with the tough process of choice, and that part of it is a real skill, a difficult thing," he said. "At Granta, Alex has done that superbly, he has foregrounded his editors and taken himself out of the story."

Bowler, who initially joined Granta as publishing director, has in addition acted as the indie's executive publisher for the past year, taking on all aspects of running the company, including oversight of marketing and sales. The role at Faber will see Bowler "coming back to specialising in being an editorial leader", noted Page, but that wider experience will also serve him in good stead. "A publisher has to be able to engage with the rest of the company and he's done that superbly at Granta", said the Faber chief. "So I was looking for a balance of all the elements and in conversations we had he was so eloquent and highly intelligent - he has a fine mind and a curious mind."

He added: "He's also a lovely human being - kind, open - and he'll fit in."

Bowler's start at Faber will be in September, amid a heavy autumn for the publisher which will include Sally Rooney's second novel Normal People (September) and Barbara Kingsolver's Unsheltered (October) among its highlights. Faber will also be marking its 90th anniversary year in 2019 for which there will be special plans.

Page said: "Faber in the last three years has journeyed to a very successful place. On the one level, Alex's priority will be a continuation of that story - we want to continue to improve and develop - and then of course he will bring his own stamp."

Faber won Independent Publisher of the Year at last week's British Book Awards, three years after a loss-making 2014 saw a round of redundancies at the publisher.