Donald E. Herdeck (November 19, 1924 – April 20, 2005) was an American academic and publisher, and the founder in 1973 of Three Continents Press.
Joining the US Foreign Service in 1953, Herdeck spent some years in Italy, and in 1960 was posted to Guinea in West Africa, developing an interest in African literature.
[4] His mission to promote the work of many neglected writers – from Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East and other regions – led him to found in 1973 a small publishing house called Three Continents Press, which struggled to be profitable yet went on to become one of the foremost publishers of Third World literature, and of works translated from many languages.
[1][3] After retiring from teaching at Georgetown in 1987, Herdeck continued to head his two-person publishing company, moving it in 1993 to Colorado Springs.
[7] He was the editor or author of the key reference books African Authors, 1300–1973 (1973; revised edition, 1974) and Caribbean Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical-Critical Encyclopedia (1979, co-edited with his wife Margaret Herdeck, Maurice Lubin, John Figueroa and Dorothy Figueroa, and Jose Alcantara),[4] and in 1998 Appreciating the Difference: The Autobiography of Three Continents Press, 1973–1997.