Otto Penzler was born on July 8,1942 and is an American editor of mystery fiction, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City.
13 Facts About Otto Penzler
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Otto Penzler graduated from the University of Michigan, having studied English literature.
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Otto Penzler is the co-author of the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection for which he won an Edgar Award in 1977.
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Otto Penzler wrote 101 Greatest Movies of Mystery and Suspense.
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Otto Penzler has worked with authors including Elmore Leonard, Nelson DeMille, Joyce Carol Oates, Sue Grafton, Mary Higgins Clark, Stanley Ellin, Robert Crais, Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke and Thomas H Cook.
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Otto Penzler founded The Mysterious Press, a publishing house devoted entirely to mystery and crime fiction, in 1975.
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Otto Penzler reacquired The Mysterious Press name from Hachette in 2009; it was an imprint at Grove Atlantic until 2021, when it became an independent imprint as part of Penzler Publishers.
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Otto Penzler founded The Mysterious Bookshop in mid-town Manhattan and after twenty-seven years moved to Tribeca.
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Otto Penzler served on the board of directors of the Mystery Writers of America for fourteen years and was awarded the organization's Ellery Queen Award and a Raven.
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Otto Penzler won a second Edgar for editing The Lineup, a collection of profiles of famous detectives, written by their creators.
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Otto Penzler befriended many noted authors including Ambler, Ken Follett, John Gardner and others, who inscribed copies of their works.
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In Fall 2018, Otto Penzler established Otto Penzler Publishers, which launched American Mystery Classics, a collection of newly reissued mystery and detective fiction, many of which had been unavailable for several decades.
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In 2019, Otto Penzler teamed up with Pegasus Books to launch Scarlet, a joint publishing venture specializing in psychological suspense aimed at female readers.