What Does the DAW Books Acquisition Mean for SFF?
Science fiction and fantasy fans were stunned to hear that DAW Books, one of the oldest independent publishers of science fiction and fantasy, had been acquired by Astra Publishing House.
DAW Books independent no more? Owned by Astra Publishing House, which is owned by a company based out of Beijing, China?
What are the ramifications? Fans and authors alike are still trying to figure this out…
A Very Brief History of DAW Books.
DAW Books was founded in 1971 by Donald A. Wollheim (fan, author, editor, and publisher) with his wife Elsie B. Wollheim. He died in 1990. DAW is now run by the award-winning Betsy Wollheim (she talks about her father in a Locus interview) and Sheila E. Gilbert.
Their authors have included C. J. Cherryh, Fritz Leiber, Sean Russell, Jennifer Roberson, Margaret Weis, Roger Zelazny, C. S. Friedman, Nnedi Okorafor, Seanan McGuire, Kate Elliott, Jim C. Hines, and Julie Czerneda. And more!
DAW Books remained independent though the books were distributed by Penguin Group. But as mentioned by The Wertzone, in recent years, Random Penguins (I mean Penguin Random House) gained more control.
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