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About the Author

Disambiguation Notice:

Many issues of Granta have been cataloged here under the name of the longtime, but now former, editor, Bill Buford.

Image credit: Gaspar Tringale

Works by Bill Buford

Among the Thugs (1991) 955 copies
Granta 43: Best of Young British Novelists 2 (1993) — Editor — 176 copies
Granta 25: The Murderee (1988) — Editor — 161 copies
Granta 34: Death of a Harvard Man (1990) — Editor — 158 copies
Granta 37: The Family (1991) — Editor — 155 copies
Granta 26: Travel (1989) — Editor — 153 copies
Granta 29: New World (1989) — Editor — 150 copies
Granta 21: The Story-Teller (1987) — Editor — 150 copies
Granta 24: Inside Intelligence (1988) — Editor — 150 copies
Granta 28: Birthday: The Anniversary Issue (1989) — Editor — 149 copies
Granta 46: Crime (1994) — Editor — 149 copies
Granta 32: History (1990) — Editor — 149 copies
Granta 27: Death (1989) — Editor — 147 copies
Granta 30: New Europe (1990) — Editor — 146 copies
Granta 31: The General (1990) — Editor — 143 copies
Granta 48: Africa (1994) — Editor — 142 copies
Granta 41: Biography (1992) — Editor — 141 copies
The Best of Granta Travel (1991) 139 copies
Granta 35: An Unbearable Peace (1991) — Editor — 137 copies
Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra (2009) 137 copies
Granta 23: Home (1988) — Editor — 137 copies
Granta 33: What Went Wrong? (1990) — Editor — 131 copies
Granta 42: Krauts! (1992) — Editor — 130 copies
Granta 20: In Trouble Again (1986) — Editor — 130 copies
Granta 47: Losers (1994) — Editor — 127 copies
Granta 22: With Your Tongue Down My Throat (1987) — Editor — 127 copies
Granta 36: Vargas Llosa for President (1991) — Editor — 126 copies
Granta 49: Money (1994) — Editor — 118 copies
Granta 51: Big Men (1995) 117 copies
Granta 50: Fifty (1995) — Editor — 117 copies
Granta 45: Gazza Agonistes (1993) 115 copies
Granta 38: We're So Happy! (1991) — Editor — 114 copies
Granta 40: The Womanizer (1992) — Editor — 113 copies
Granta 39: The Body (1992) — Editor — 105 copies
The Best American Travel Writing 2010 (2010) — Editor; Introduction — 99 copies
Granta 15: The Fall of Saigon (1985) — Editor — 96 copies
Granta 7: Best of Young British Novelists (1983) — Editor — 91 copies
Granta 18: The Snap Revolution (1986) — Editor — 90 copies
Granta 10: Travel Writing (1984) — Editor — 88 copies
The Granta Book of the Family (1995) — Editor — 86 copies
Granta 16: Science (1985) — Editor — 81 copies
Granta 17: While Waiting for a War (1985) — Editor — 80 copies
Granta 19: More Dirt (1986) — Editor — 76 copies
Granta 14: Autobiography (1984) — Editor — 71 copies
Granta 8: Dirty Realism (1983) — Editor — 71 copies
Granta 11: Greetings From Prague (1984) — Editor — 59 copies
Granta 13: After the Revolution (1984) — Editor — 54 copies
Granta 5: The Modern Common Wind (1982) — Editor — 44 copies
Granta 9: John Berger, Boris (1983) — Editor — 43 copies
Granta 6: A Literature for Politics (1990) — Editor — 41 copies
Granta 3: The End of the English Novel (1980) — Editor — 41 copies
Granta 4: Beyond the Crisis (1989) — Editor — 36 copies
Henry VII 1 copy
Oui, chef! (2020) 1 copy

Associated Works

The New Kings of Nonfiction (2007) — Contributor — 727 copies
Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink (2007) — Contributor — 526 copies
The Best American Travel Writing 2000 (2000) — Contributor — 342 copies
The Best American Travel Writing 2008 (2008) — Contributor — 210 copies
Granta 147: 40th Birthday Special (2019) — Contributor — 53 copies

Tagged

anthology (387) biography (86) chef (60) contemporary literature (50) cooking (267) England (41) essays (577) fiction (377) food (440) food writing (78) football (50) Granta (963) history (72) Italy (126) journalism (88) literary journal (280) literary magazine (75) Literary periodical (49) literature (170) magazine (81) memoir (271) non-fiction (814) ok (49) photographs (56) photography (66) read (149) restaurants (71) ROCKHOUSE (48) short fiction (57) short stories (329) soccer (84) sociology (53) sports (51) to-read (305) travel (309) writing (52) ~CVR~ (49) ~EDN~ (48) ~EDT~ (48) ~TAG~ (48)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1954-10-06
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Places of residence
California, USA
England, UK
France
Education
University of Cambridge (King's College)
Occupations
editor
chef
Organizations
Granta
The New Yorker
Disambiguation notice
Many issues of Granta have been cataloged here under the name of the longtime, but now former, editor, Bill Buford.

Members

Reviews

Fascinatingly delicious, surprisingly poignant. Recommend! ♥️
 
Flagged
decaturmamaof2 | 14 other reviews | Nov 22, 2023 |
15 biographical stories around money, income, wealth
 
Flagged
betty_s | 1 other review | Oct 1, 2023 |
In 1983, Granta made a splash by putting out an edition of writing from what it thought were the 20 best British novelists under the age of 40. It made headlines because the majority of these writers were indeed immensely talented, influential and successful. Ten years on in 1993, Granta attempted it again and the result is this volume.
Here are 20 works largely taken from whatever book the author was about to publish at the time. Overall the reading experience is unsatisfying as consuming these excerpts out of the context of the novel they belong to leaves one feeling they've missed something. The most successful pieces are the short stories and the excerpts that are self-contained, such as Caryl Phillips' moving slavery story, "West," and Helen Simpson's beautiful, harrowing story, "Heavy Weather," about adapting to mothering a jealous toddler and a newborn.
Granta's editors weren't as successful in catching fire in 1993. I'd say less than half of these authors turned out to be members of Britain's "Best," and that includes two who were repeated here from the earlier list because they were still under 40. Still, it's a large collection of good to terrific writing and some prove to be very good teasers for the full novel and other work from the authors.
… (more)
½
 
Flagged
RobertOK | 2 other reviews | Sep 28, 2023 |
Dreary and dull, nearly the entire issue is devoted to Germany's problems post unification. I think at the time, late 1992, the U.K. was watching with horror as Germany showed signs of rising nationalism and violence to foreigners, and appeared to be welcoming a neo-Nazi movement.
The few articles not focused on Germany--first-hand accounts of the Gulf War bombing of Baghdad and the wars in Croatia and Bosnia--are much more enlightening. Amazing the horrors humans inflict on each other.
½
 
Flagged
RobertOK | Aug 9, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
66
Also by
8
Members
10,015
Popularity
#2,378
Rating
3.8
Reviews
189
ISBNs
193
Languages
11
Favorited
1
Touchstones
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