Coach House Books editorial director Alana Wilcox has been named the 2023 recipient of the Ivy Award. Wilcox will be given the award on September 25 at an event at the upcoming Toronto International Festival of Authors.

The award, now in its 12th year, is given annually to someone who has made a substantial contribution to Canadian publishing.

As editorial director at Coach House, Wilcox has acquired and edited such books as the Giller prize-winning novels Fifteen Dogs and The Sleeping Car Porter. She has also served on the boards of the Literary Press Group and the Ontario Publishers’ Association and is currently on the board of the Association of Canadian Publishers.

“I’m gobsmacked and ecstatic to be receiving this award. There’s no greater honour than being celebrated by one’s peers,” Wilcox said in a press release.

Wilcox was selected as the recipient of this year’s award by a jury comprised of chair and agent Carolyn Forde, TIFA director Roland Gulliver, Quill & Quire publisher Alison Jones, HarperCollins Canada senior editorial director Jennifer Lambert, and Literary Review of Canada editor-in-chief Kyle Wyatt.

Previous winners of the Ivy Award include Errol Sharpe, Nurjehan Aziz, and last year’s winner Iris Tupholme.