Betty Ballantine

(Sept. 25, 1919 – February 13, 2019)

Betty Ballantine (née Elizabeth Norah Jones) was a publisher, editor, and writer. She and her husband, Ian, helped create Bantam Books in 1945 and established Ballantine Books in 1952. They became freelance publishers in the 1970s.

Betty and Ian were Guests of Honor at Noreascon Three, the 1989 Worldcon.

She wrote a novel, The Secret Oceans, published by Bantam in 1994. The book is "a modern-day, ecology-oriented 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for kids."

An appreciation of her and her work by Jon D. Swartz was published in Scientifiction: The First Fandom Report in 2019 (New Series #59).

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1975 -- World Fantasy Award
• 1980 -- Invisible Little Man Award
• 1980 -- Balrog Award (with Ian Ballantine)
• 1983 -- World Fantasy Award
• 1985 -- Hatcon 3
• 1989 -- Noreascon Three
• 1992 -- Milford Award
• 1993 -- Norwescon XVI (she did not attend)
• 2002 -- SFWA President's Award
• 2004 -- World Fantasy Convention 2004
• 2006 -- Worldcon Committee Special Award (at L.A.con IV)
• 2007 -- World Fantasy Award Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2008 -- Science Fiction Hall of Fame

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Person

1919—2019

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