Granta Editor Stepping Down

John Freeman, the American-born editor of the London-based literary quarterly Granta, has announced that he is departing the magazine, effective July 15. Mr. Freeman, 38, has edited Granta since late 2008, most recently overseeing the publication of the decennial “Best of Young British Novelists” issue, with 20 writers 40 years of age or under, which has become the magazine’s global calling card.

“I loved this job, but I always felt five years would be a kind of marker, and it was,” Mr. Freeman wrote in an email sent Thursday while he was flying from Seattle to New York. “There’s a next stage now, though,” he added. “And as the books I’ve been meaning to write are beginning to crowd to the front of my mind, it felt time to leave.”

Mr. Freeman has a book coming out in the fall called “How to Read a Novelist” and said he is also finishing a book of essays, tentatively titled “The Alphabet of American Poetry.” Beyond that, there is “hopefully a collection of poems,” he wrote. “I’ll also go back to reviewing a bit more, which I have missed,” and will be teaching a writing course at Columbia University this fall.

Under Mr. Freeman, a former president of the National Book Critics Circle, Granta has significantly raised its international profile. Founded in 1889 as a literary magazine at Cambridge University, it now publishes editions in several languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Norwegian; new editions in Turkish and Swedish are about to launch.

In addition, the magazine, whose publisher is the Swedish heiress and philanthropist Sigrid Rausing, has greatly expanded its online presence during his tenure, and reshaped its look, while continuing to seek out and promote new writers. In a harsh economic climate, Mr. Freeman noted, he has also succeeded in “reducing the magazine’s losses drastically, in half basically.”

“The great thing about Granta is it’s always felt to me like a kind of Trojan Horse for new writers,” he added. “I feel like the horse is in the keep now, and so it’s time to sit back and watch.”