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.

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.

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
  • The Other Wind (2001, Harcourt), book 5

• 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
  • 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
  • The Telling (2000, Harcourt)
  • 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)

• The Western Shore series
  • Gifts (2004, Harcourt), book 1
  • Voices (2006, Harcourt) Western Shore, book 2

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),

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)
• Jane on her Own (1999, Orchard)
• 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)

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

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)

Intertextual references

Le Guin's ansible technology (from the Ekumen universe) has been referenced in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.

Further reading and listening

• (en) Ursula K. Le Guin's website
• (en) a variety of works read by the author
• (en) Wikipedia
• (it) Ursula K. Le Guin's article at the Italian Wikipedia.org
• Ursula K. Le Guin at LibraryThing
• Ursula K. Le Guin at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Ursula K. Le Guin at the Locus Index to SF Awards