The Editors Canada student relations committee recently completed a series of interviews with Editors Canada award winners. Each month, we’ll bring you the highlights of our interviews in the hopes that those featured may inspire student editors beginning their careers, as well as editors who are already established.
Amanda Lewis (Vancouver, British Columbia) received the 2020 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence. Lewis was awarded the $2,000 prize for her work on Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips & Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality, by Bob Joseph with Cynthia F. Joseph (Page Two).
Becky Heaman: Who has been one of your biggest influences in the editing world?
Amanda Lewis: My editing hero is Diana Athill, who was a long-time editor at André Deutsch. In January 2019, she passed away at age 101. Diana worked with a lot of big names in 20th-century literature, but what most endears me to her is that she began writing later in life, publishing several frank memoirs about her career and relationships, and the process of aging.
BH: What is your favourite editing-related resource (book, website)?
AL: My favourite editing resource is the Canadian Oxford Dictionary! I also rely on The Copyeditor’s Handbook by Amy Einsohn, The Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition), and Gregory Younging’s Elements of Indigenous Style.
BH: What effect has winning this award had on your editing career?
AL: Winning the Tom Fairley Award meant so much to me, as it recognized not only my work on a single book but also my 12-year career to this point.
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