Betty Ballantine

Betty Ballantine (born Elizabeth Jones; September 25, 1919 – February 12, 2019) was an American publisher, editor, and writer. She was born during the Raj to a British colonial family in Faizabad, India. After her marriage to Ian Ballantine in 1939, she moved to New York. As a team, the Ballantines were involved in the formation of Bantam Books in 1945. Ian became the president from 1945 to 1952 when the pair left to form Ballantine Books.

The new publishing house operated with a new business concept, producing original fiction and publishing both hardbound and paperbound copies at the same time. Some originals included Fahrenheit 451 and A Clockwork Orange. Betty Ballantine worked on the editorial part of the business. Along with Frederik Pohl, she searched for science fiction writers in magazines and encouraged them to write novels for Ballantine Books. Betty Ballantine received a Special Committee Award from the annual World Science Fiction Convention in 2006 and a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement from the World Fantasy Convention in 2007. The Ballantines were both inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2008, with a shared citation.