Betty Ballantine (born Elizabeth Jones; September 25, 1919 – February 12, 2019) was an American publisher, editor, and writer. She was born during
the Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
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or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
to a British colonial family. After her marriage to
Ian Ballantine
Ian Keith Ballantine (February 15, 1916 – March 9, 1995) was an American publisher who founded and published the paperback line of Ballantine Books from 1952 to 1974 with his wife, Betty Ballantine. The Ballantines were both inducted by the ...
in 1939, she moved to New York where they created
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...
in 1945 and established
Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...
in 1952.
[ They became freelance publishers in the 1970s. Their son, ]Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...
, was an author and journalist specializing in cycling topics.
Company
Ian and Betty Ballantine won one special World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy literature, fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year a ...
for professional work in 1975 and another one shared with Joy Chant
Joy Chant (born 13 January 1945) is a British fantasy writer. She is best known for the three House of Kendreth novels, published 1970 to 1983. Her legal name is Eileen Joyce Rutter.
Biography
Eileen Joyce (nickname, "Joy") Chant was born in Lo ...
and other creators of ''The High Kings'' (Bantam, 1983), a reference book on the Matter of Britain
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the list of legendary kings of Britain, legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It ...
that incorporates retellings. (It was also a runner-up in nonfiction Hugo
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
* Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback
* Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on ...
and Locus Award
The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. In addition to the pl ...
categories.)[ Betty Ballantine received a Special Committee Award from the annual ]World Science Fiction Convention
Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...
in 2006 and a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
from the World Fantasy Convention
The World Fantasy Convention is an annual science fiction convention, convention of professionals, collectors, and others interested in the field of fantasy. The World Fantasy Awards are presented at the event. Other features include an art sh ...
in 2007. The Ballantines were both inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2008, with a shared citation.[
]
Publication
Ballantine wrote the novel ''The Secret Oceans'' published by Bantam in 1994 () with illustrations by twelve artists.[
]
See also
References
Further reading
* Silver, Steven H. "An Award Well Deserved". ''Argentus
''Argentus'' was a science fiction fanzine edited by Steven H Silver. It won the Chronic Rift Roundtable Award for Best Fanzine in 2009 and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine three times (2008–2010). The magazine ended publication ...
'', 2005, p. 5.
External links
* — identical to its
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Betty Ballantine at Feminist SF
"Couples Who Mastered Publishing, No. 2: The Ballantines"
by Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satelli ...
, March 15, 2011
"Publishing legend Betty Ballantine dies in Bearsville at 99"
from Hudson Valley One, February 18, 2019
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballantine, Betty
1919 births
2019 deaths
American paperback book publishers (people)
Science fiction editors
Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees
British people in colonial India
British emigrants to the United States
Ballantine family
Women speculative fiction editors