Nurjehan Aziz, publisher of Mawenzi House, will receive the Ivy Award on Oct. 26, during the upcoming Toronto International Festival of Authors. The Ivy Award is presented to someone who has made a significant contribution to Canadian publishing.

Aziz co-founded the literary magazine The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad, which ran from 1981 through 2001 and spawned the press which became Mawenzi House in 1985. Mawenzi House has a mandate to publish multicultural work, with an emphasis on titles connected to Asia and Africa.

Additionally, Jennifer Croll, editorial director at Greystone Books, will receive the Canadian Editorial Fellowship. The fellowship is an opportunity for a Canadian in publishing to meet with the international publishing executives who are participating in the International Visitors Programme. This year there are 12 confirmed international publishing professionals from countries including Mexico, Italy, Sweden, and the U.K.

The IV Programme runs from Oct. 26 through Oct. 30 as part of TIFA. The program consists of panels, pitch opportunities, and virtual meetings with publishers, agents, and editors.

Aziz will be presented with the Ivy Award on Oct. 26 at 11 a.m. in a free event open to the public. The event will also include an interview with keynote speaker Lennie Goodings, chair of the U.K.’s Virago Press, by Janice Zawerbny, executive editor at HarperCollinsCanada.

Aziz was selected by a jury comprising TIFA director Roland Gulliver, Globe and Mail books editor Judith Pereira, Literary Review of Canada editor-in-chief Kyle Wyatt, and Q&Q publisher Alison Jones. TIFA runs from Oct. 22 through Nov. 1.