Zim editor gets OBE

The Honours lists are released biannually, at New Year and on the Queens official birthday in June, and are granted in recognition of exceptional achievement and service in the United Kingdom.

Wakatama Allfrey has been awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for her outstanding services to the publishing industry. Currently deputy editor of Granta magazine, a highly respected literary magazine and publisher of new fiction and non-fiction from around the world, which boasts such contributors as Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Zadie Smith, Wakatama Allfrey will receive the honour alongside other greats in their respective fields, including singer and philanthropist Annie Lennox, actor David Suchet (from the

detective drama series, Poirot) and fashion designer Katharine Hamnett.

Wakatama Allfrey, who lives in London with her husband Richard Allfrey and their two daughters, Gabrielle and Rujeko, said she was delighted to receive the honour as it represented to her not only recognition from the Sovereign of her adopted country, but acclaim from her peers, from whom the nomination for the award came.

It feels like a wonderful recognition of [my work] and it feels incredible to be listed

alongside people I admire so much, she said.

Wakatama Allfrey knows all too well the importance of books and reading to a persons development. It was her love of words and language, coupled with a need to communicate and be understood during her formative years, that propelled her into the world of books and laid the foundation for her successful publishing career.

Aged five she moved from the care of her grandmother in Ruzani village, Wedza, to join her family in Iowa in the United States, where her father, writer Pius Wakatama, was a participant in the prestigious Iowa Writers Programme. She recalls her first

interaction with her African-American counterparts as traumatic:

I ran outside to play [with the children] and as I spoke only Shona at that stage, wittered away at them and remember being shocked and upset when they didnt respond. I basically stopped speaking for a while after that. I just watched and listened and learned. When I did begin speaking English Id developed a stutter. So I read a lot, it was the perfect way to escape.

Brian Chikwava, whose book Harare North was edited and published by Wakatama Allfrey during her time at Jonathan Cape, paid tribute to his former editor and spoke about the fundamental role the publisher plays, not just in shaping an author s manuscript for print, but in making it sell.

Ellah is one of many editors who has worked hard to introduce and promote African authors to the mainstream and allowed us to retain our voice.

Ellah will be presented with her OBE by the Queen at Buckingham Palace in London later this year.