Editor Alexandra Nahlous has been awarded the 2009 Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship.

The biennial Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship is an initiative of the Australia Council for the Arts that is managed by the Australian Publishers Association.

The winner was announced at the Sydney Writers’ Festival on 21 May, during a session on The Editorial Relationship chaired by publisher Sue Hines.

Alexandra is the eleventh recipient of the Fellowship and was an outstanding applicant. It will enable her to spend three months in the USA in both multinational and smaller publishing houses and with a literary agency to research the editorial process involved in publishing women’s fiction and its subgenres.

Alexandra has twelve years’ experience at a range of companies. For the past seven years she has worked at Allen & Unwin, where she started in the role of editor and is currently an editorial manager. Alexandra has worked across a wide range of subject areas in fiction and non-fiction genres, and worked with numerous authors including Christos Tsiolkas (The Slap), Wendy Harmer (Roadside Sisters), Jessica Adams (The Summer Psychic) and Luke Davies (God of Speed).

The Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship is named after the distinguished Australian literary editor and honours her contribution to Australian letters. The Fellowship aims to recognise and reward editors for their contribution to Australian writing and publishing.