W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing house founded in 1923 by William Warder Norton and his wife Mary Dows Herter Norton. It is notable for being one of the largest publishing houses wholly owned by its employees, having become independent and employee-owned in the wake of its founder's death.
Norton publishes across trade fiction and nonfiction, poetry, and, prominently, college textbooks and academic works. It is especially well known in education for the Norton Anthologies, which are standard texts in literature courses throughout the English-speaking world.
The house has a strong reputation for quality and editorial independence, publishing serious literary and intellectual work alongside its educational list. It has been home to many distinguished authors and influential books.
As an independent, employee-owned company, W. W. Norton occupies a distinctive position in American publishing, combining commercial trade publishing with a major presence in academic and educational books.