Miriam Gross

She was the deputy literary editor of The Observer from 1969-81, the women’s editor of The Observer from 1981-84, the arts editor of The Daily Telegraph from 1986-91, and the literary editor of The Sunday Telegraph from 1991 to 2005. She served as senior editor (and co-founder) of Standpoint magazine from 2008-11, and now serves on their advisory board. From 1986-88 she edited Channel Four’s Book Choice and is also the editor of two collections of essays, The World of George Orwell (1971) and The World of Raymond Chandler (1977). Gross has contributed to The Spectator, as the magazine’s diarist, and has written an occasional column for the Financial Times. She has also served as a judge on the George Orwell memorial prize. As mayor of London, Boris Johnson commissioned Miriam Gross to write a policy paper on failing literacy in London schools. She is the author of a memoir, An Almost English Life: Literary, and Not so Literary Recollections.