David Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British fan, writer, editor and critic who publishes the newszine Ansible.
By training he is a physicist and his first job was as a weapons physicist at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, Berkshire, which formed the basis of his hilarious quasi-autobiography The Leaky Establishment.
Langford has been active in British fandom, working Eastercons and British Worldcons, as well as being FGoH at Conspiracy '87 — a con he also worked on! He has been GoH at numerous regionals in the US and the UK. He was TAFF winner in 1980 travelling to Noreascon Two and wrote The Transatlantic Hearing Aid as his trip report.
But it is as a fan writer that he excels, having received 21 Best Fan Writer Hugos, a record for anyone in any category. Much of his fan writing is in his monthly newszine Ansible — which has also received multiple Hugo awards for Best Fanzine. A thirty-one year long streak of Hugo nominations came to an end in 2010.
As a pro, Langford is noted for his parodies. He published a science fiction novel and has published numerous pieces of short SF, winning the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2001. He also helped produce the second and third editions of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, and has done numerous book reviews.
