Port Moody’s Shirarose Wilensky won an accolade from the Editors’ Association of Canada, it was announced on Monday (June 28).
Wilensky earned the 2021 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence — plus $2,000 — for her work on Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi, which was published by Arsenal Pulp Press; it was Ekwuyasi’s first novel.
In a release, the association stated that “Wilensky helped balance the stories of the three main characters within a consistent timeline and developed a strategy for retaining Nigerian languages and colloquialisms in the text, which allowed the novel to stay true to the author’s Nigerian origins while also being accessible to non-Nigerian audiences,” it wrote.
“The judges commended Wilensky for her exceptional editorial skill, including her correspondence with the author, which was thorough, respectful, encouraging and friendly.”
Butter Honey Pig Bread came in second place for Canada Reads 2021 and was shortlisted for the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction.
“My deepest gratitude goes to Francesca for the gift of her trust in allowing me to collaborate with her on a magnificent and bold debut novel,” Wilensky said in the release.
