Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (ursulakleguin.com) (born October 21, 1929 in Berkeley, California) is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, realistic fiction and poetry. Her parents were Alfred and Theodora Kroeber, well-known anthropologists. Her mother wrote Ishi in Two Worlds, a famous biography of a California Native American who lived with the Kroebers for some time during Le Guin's childhood. She lives with her husband, Charles Le Guin, in Portland, Oregon. One of their daughters, Elisabeth Le Guin, is a noted musician performing early music.

She is almost certainly the most famous feminist science fiction writer in the world, and one of the most famous and respected science fiction writers, period. She has won the World Fantasy Award life achievement award, the Science Fiction Writers of American Grand Master Award, and the Science Fiction Research Association Pilgrim Award. She is a living inductee of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. The Earthsea series was listed as #4 in the 1998 Locus Magazine all-time fantasy before 1990 poll, and A Wizard of Earthsea was listed as #3 in the 1987 Locus Magazine all-time best fantasy novel poll. Her novels The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness were both multiply honored.

Her breakthrough novel, The Left Hand of Darkness was an early treatment of a differently gendered society.

See

• Awards
• Bibliography of scholarship and criticism
• Intertextual references to Le Guin or her works
• Quotes on Ursula K. Le Guin or her works

Bibliography

Important sequences and series:

• Earthsea series
  • A Wizard of Earthsea (1968, Parnassus Press), book 1
  • The Tombs of Atuan (1971, Atheneum), book 2
  • The Farthest Shore (1972, Atheneum), book 3
  • Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea (1990, Atheneum), book 4, winner 1991 Nebula Award, 1991 Locus Award, best fantasy novel
  • Tales from Earthsea (2001, Harcourt) Earthsea, short story collection, book 5, winner 2002 Locus Award, best collection
  • The Other Wind (2001, Harcourt), book 5, winner 2002 World Fantasy Award

• Ekumen loosely related novels and stories set in one future history
  • Planet of Exile (1966, one-half of an Ace Double)
  • Rocannon's World (1966, one-half of an Ace Double)
  • City of Illusions (1967, Ace)
  • The Left Hand of Darkness (1969, Ace). Winner, 1970 [[Hugo Award];, 1970 Nebula Award; retrospective Tiptree Award; listed as #3 in the 1975 Locus Magazine all-time best science-fiction novel poll, #2 in the 1987 Locus Magazine all-time best science-fiction novel poll; #3 in the 1998 Locus all-time best science-fiction novel poll; Gaylactic Spectrum Hall of Fame novel
  • The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia (1974, Harper & Row), winner, 1975 Hugo Award, 1975 Nebula Award, 1975 Locus Award, 1993 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award
  • The Word for World Is Forest (1976, Berkley), (originally published in Again, Dangerous Visions,) edited by Harlan Ellison, winner, 1973 Hugo Award
  • A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994, HarperPrism), short story collection
  • Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995, HarperPrism), short story collection, winner 1996 Locus Award, best collection
  • The Telling (2000, Harcourt), winner 2001 Locus Award
  • The Birthday of the World and Other Stories (2002, HarperCollins)

• Orsinian series
  • Orsinian Tales (1976, Harper & Row), short stories
  • Malafrena (1979, Putnam)

• Catwings series (children's books)
  • Catwings (1988, Orchard)
  • Catwings Return (1989, Orchard)
  • Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings (1994, Orchard)
  • Jane on her Own (1999, Orchard)

• The Western Shore series
  • Gifts (2004, Harcourt), book 1
  • Voices (2006, Harcourt), book 2
  • Powers (2007, Harcourt), book 3, winner, 2009 Nebula Award

Novels not in series

• Always Coming Home (1985, Harper & Row), originally packaged with cassette tape of music from the Kesh
• The Beginning Place (1980, Harper & Row; UK title: Threshold)
• The Eye of the Heron (1978, in Millennial Women, Delacorte Press (Dell Publishing))
• The Lathe of Heaven (1971, Scribner), winner 1972 Locus Award
• Very Far Away from Anywhere Else (1976, Atheneum; UK title: A Very Long Way from Anywhere Else)
• Lavinia (2008), winner, 2009 Locus Award

Short story collections not in series

See also List of short stories by Ursula K. Le Guin

• Buffalo Gals, and Other Animal Presences (1987, Capra Press)
• Changing Planes (2003, Harcourt)
• The Compass Rose (1982, Harper & Row)
• Searoad: Chronicles of Klatsand (1991, HarperCollins)
• The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975, Harper & Row), includes both Earthsea and Ekumen stories
• Unlocking the Air and Other Stories (1996, HarperCollins)

Children's books not in series

• The Adventure of Cobbler's Rune (1982, Cheap Street)
• Fire and Stone (1989, Atheneum)
• Fish Soup (1992, Atheneum)
• Leese Webster (1979, Atheneum)
• A Ride on the Red Mare's Back (1992, Orchard)
• Solomon Leviathan's Nine Hundred and Thirty-First Trip Around the World (1984, Cheap Street)
• Tom Mouse (2002, Roaring Brook)
• A Visit from Dr. Katz (1988, Atheneum)

Poetry collections

• Going Out with Peacocks (1994, HarperCollins)
• Hard Words and Other Poems (1981, Harper & Row)
• No Boats (1991, Ygor and Buntho Make Books)
• Sixty Odd (1999, Shambhala)
• Tillai and Tylissos (with Theodora Kroeber, 1980, Red Bull)
• Wild Angels (1974, Capra)
• Wild Oats and Fireweed (1988, Harper & Row)

Non-fiction

• Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places (1989, Grove Press)
• The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction (1979, ed. Susan Wood, G.P. Putnam; 1989, Women's Press; 2nd edition published in 1992 by HarperCollins)
• Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew (1998, Eight Mountain)
• The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination (2004, Shambhala), winner 2005 Locus Award, best nonfiction
• Cheek by Jowl: Talks and Essays on How and Why Fantasy Matters (2009)

See Essays by Ursula K. Le Guin

Translations

• Kalpa Imperial (Angélica Gorodischer, 2003, Small Beer Press)
• Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way (Lao Tzu) (1997, Shambhala)
• Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral (Gabriela Mistral), University of New Mexico Press, 2003)
• The Twins, The Dream / Las Gemelas, El Sueño (with Diana Bellessi, poet & translator, 1997, Arte Público) (a collaborative translation with Diana Bellessi; each translated the other's work)

Collaborations

• Blue Moon over Thurman Street (with Roger Dorband, photographer, 1993, New Sage)
• Music and Poetry of the Kesh (with Todd Barton, composer, 1985, Valley Productions)
• Rigel Nine: An Opera (with David Bedford, composer, 1985, Charisma)
• The Twins, The Dream / Las Gemelas, El Sueño (with Diana Bellessi, poet & translator, 1997, Arte Público)
• Uses of Music in Uttermost Parts (with Elinor Armer, composer, 1996, Koch)

Edited anthologies

• Edges (1980, Pocket)
• Interfaces (1980, Ace)
• Nebula Award Stories XI (1977, Harper & Row)
• The Norton Book of Science Fiction (with Brian Attebery & Karen Joy Fowler, 1993, Norton)

Award-winning short fiction

• "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" (1973), winner 1974 Hugo Award, best short story
• "The Day Before the Revolution" (1975), Ekumen story, prequel to The Dispossessed," winner, 1975 Nebula Award, 1975 Locus Award
• "The New Atlantis" (1975), winner 1976 Locus Award
• "Sur" (1982), winner 1983 Locus Award
• "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight?" (1987), winner 1988 Hugo Award, best novelette; 1988 World Fantasy Award, best novella
• "Forgiveness Day" (1994) [Ekumen]], winner 1995 Locus Award, 1995 Asimov's Magazine Reader Poll,
• "The Matter of Seggri" (1994), Ekumen, winner 1995 Tiptree Award
• "Solitude" (1994), winner 1996 Nebula Award
• "Mountain Ways" (1996), winner 1997 Tiptree Award, 1997 Locus Award
• "The Birthday of the World" (2000), winner 2001 Locus Award, best novelette
• "The Bones of the Earth" (2001), winner 2002 Locus Award, best short story
• "The Finder" (2001), winner 2002 Locus Award, best novella
• "The Wild Girls" (2002), winner 2003 Locus Award, best novelette

Uncollected stories and essays

• "Along the River" (1993, Omni Best Science Fiction Three)
• "Earthsea Revisioned" (1993, Green Bay booklet)
• "The Lost Children" (1996, Thirteenth Moon)
• "The Ursula Major Construct: or, A Far Greater Horror Loomed" (1973, Clarion III)
• "The Wild Girls" (2002, Asimov's)

Adaptations of works

• The Lathe of Heaven (1980 TV)
• The Lathe of Heaven (2002 TV)
• Earthsea (2004 TV)
• Tales of Earthsea (Studio Ghibli)
• The Left Hand of Darkness (Lifeline Theater)

Further reading and listening

From Le Guin

• (en) Ursula K. Le Guin's website
• (en) a variety of works read by the author

References about Le Guin

• Ursula K. Le Guin, ISFDB
• Ursula K. Le Guin at LibraryThing
• Ursula K. Le Guin, Locus Index to SF Awards
• (en) "Ursula K. Le Guin", Wikipedia (English)
• (it) "Ursula K. Le Guin", Wikipedia (Italian)

FSFwiki

• Quotes by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Recommendations from Ursula K. Le Guin (gathered from various sources; no blurbs)