David G. Hartwell, American editor, publisher and critic, Died at 74

  Writers

David Geddes Hartwell was born on July 10, 1941, and died on January 20, 2016.

He was an American critic, publisher and editor of science fiction and fantasy.

David was best known for work with Signet, Pocket and Tor Books publishers.

Hartwell was also noted as an award-winning editor of anthologies.

He was a student at the Williams College, where he graduated with a BA in 1963.

David proceeded his studies at Colgate University for a MA in 1965, and at Columbia University where he graduated with a Ph.D. in Comparative Medieval Literature in 1973.

By 1965, he was already working as editor and publisher of The Little Magazine (1965-1988), a small press literary magazine.

Mr.Hartwell worked for Signet (1971–73), Berkley Putnam (1973–78) and Pocket, where he founded the Timescape imprint (1980–85) and created the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing line.

David also worked for Tor Books, where he spearheaded Tor’s Canadian publishing initiative at CAN-CON in Ottawa, and was also influential in bringing many Australian writers to the US market.

From 1995, his title at Tor/Forge Books has been “Senior Editor”.

In 1977, Mr.Hartwell edited the short-lived Cosmos magazine for the newly formed Baronet publishing.

Cosmos was remembered as “a fine magazine, providing a fine range of quality fiction” in an attractive package, but poor sales for the rest of the publisher’s magazine line forced its cancellation after only four issues.

In 1988, Mr.Hartwell founded The New York Review of Science Fiction, where he served as reviews editor.

Dragon Press published the magazine, a small individualistic publisher and bookseller, first established by Hartwell in 1988 as a partnership.

He later became the sole proprietor.

David has chaired the board of directors of the World Fantasy Convention and, with Gordon Van Gelder, was the administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award.

Mr.Hartwell edited copious anthologies and published a number of critical essays on science fiction and fantasy.

David Hartwell edited two annual anthologies: Year’s Best SF, began in 1996 and co-edited with Kathryn Cramer since 2002, and Year’s Best Fantasy, co-edited with Cramer from 2001 through 2010.

The two anthologies have consistently placed in the top 10 of the Locus annual reader poll in the category of Best Anthology.

He won the World Fantasy Award in the category Best Anthology for The Dark Descent, in 1988,

David was nominated for the Hugo Award forty-one times, nineteen in the category of Best Professional Editor and Best Editor Long Form, winning in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and twenty-two times as editor/publisher of The New York Review of Science Fiction.

Mr.Hartwell has also placed in the top ten in the Locus poll for best editor for twenty-seven consecutive years, every year from the award category’s inception to the present day.

David G. Hartwell edited the best-novel Nebula Award-winners Timescape by Gregory Benford (published 1980), The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe (published 1981), and No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop (published 1982), the best-novel Hugo Award-winner Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer (published 2002), and the World Fantasy Award-winning novels The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe (1981) and The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford (1984).

David was a Guest of Honor at the 67th World Science Fiction Convention in 2009.

Mr.Hartwell married Patricia Lee Wolcott, in 1969.

The couple had two children and they divorced in 1992.

He then married Kathryn Cramer in 1997, and they had two children.

Mr.Hartwell lived in Pleasantville, New York.

Hartwell was hospitalized on January 19, 2016, after suffering severe head trauma from a fall at his home.

Apparently, it was stated that Hartwell had a “massive brain bleed from which he is not expected to recover”.

David G. Hartwell passed away at 74 yrs old.