Earl Kemp
Earl Kemp (November 24, 1929 – February 29, 2020) was an American publisher, science fiction editor, critic, and fan. Born Finis Earl Kemp in Crossett, Arkansas, he grew up among pulp magazines and moved to Chicago to work as a graphics artist.
In 1952 he attended his first World Science Fiction Convention and felt at home among fellow fans. In 1956 he helped found Advent:Publishers at the University of Chicago, a small press that published science fiction criticism, history, and bibliography. One of its early books was In Search of Wonder by Damon Knight, which is seen as foundational for SF criticism.
Kemp won the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 1961 for Who Killed Science Fiction, a fanzine built from 71 responses to five questions he sent to 108 top writers. The fanzine was distributed by SAPS. The win sparked some controversy about eligibility, but it helped shape future rules for fanzine awards.
He also served as chairman of the 20th World Science Fiction Convention. He edited and published several fanzines in the 1960s, including SaFari and Destiny.
In the 1960s and 1970s Kemp worked with Greenleaf Classics to publish erotic paperbacks and gay-themed books. He published an illustrated edition of the Presidential Report on Obscenity and Pornography, which led to a one-year prison sentence for conspiracy to mail obscene material; he served three months and one day.
Kemp returned to editing fanzines after a long break, launching e*I*, a publication that shares his memories of the SF world. In 2013 his work was honored by inclusion in the First Fandom Hall of Fame.
He died on February 29, 2020, in Tecate, Mexico, from a pulmonary thromboembolism and was cremated. He was 90. Kemp is remembered as a key figure in SF publishing and criticism, and as someone who helped pave the way for gay publishing, earning praise from writer Victor Banis.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 19:24 (CET).