Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (born October 21, 1929), is an American author. Although she has written novels, poetry, children's books, and essays, she is best known for her science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Le Guin has lived in Portland, Oregon since 1958. The daughter of the anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber and the writer Theodora Kroeber, she is noted for her exemplary style and for her exploration of Taoist, anarchist, feminist, psychological and sociological themes.

First published in the 1960s, she is now regarded as one of the best modern science fiction authors. She has received several Hugo and Nebula awards, and was awarded the Gandalf Grand Master award in 1979 and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Award in 2003.

Contents

1 Biography 2 Technique 3 Fiction 3.1 Earthsea (fantasy) 3.1.1 The Earthsea novels 3.1.2 The Earthsea short stories 3.2 Ekumen (science fiction) 3.2.1 Novels of the Ekumen 3.2.2 Short stories from the Ekumen 3.3 Miscellaneous novels and story cycles 3.4 Short story collections 3.5 Children's and YA books 3.5.1 The Catwings Collection 3.5.2 Other 4 Nonfiction 4.1 Prose 4.2 Poetry 4.3 Translations 5 Pronunciation of her surname 6 External links

Biography

Le Guin became interested in literature when she was very young. At the age of eleven she submitted her first story to the magazine Astounding Science Fiction (it was rejected). She attended Harvard University's Radcliffe College and Columbia University, graduating with an M.A. She later studied in France, where she met her husband, Charles Le Guin. Her earliest writings (little was published at the time, but some was published in adapted form much later in Orsinian Tales and Malafrena), were non-fantastic stories of imaginary countries. Searching for a publishable way to express her interests, she returned to her early interest in science fiction and began to be published regularly in the early 1960s. She became famous after the publication of her 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness, which won the Hugo and Nebula awards.

Much of Le Guin's science fiction is distinctive in its strong emphasis on the social sciences, including sociology and anthropology. Her writing often makes use of unusual alien cultures to convey a message about our own culture; one example is the exploration of sexual identity through the androgynous natives of The Left Hand of Darkness.

Technique

Le Guin is known for her ability to create believable worlds populated by strongly sympathetic characters (regardless of whether they are technically 'human'). Her fantasy works (such as the Earthsea series) are much more concerned with the human condition than works by authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien. However, they share with Tolkien – and, by definition, with most epic high fantasy – the traditional notion that only the "True King" can solve the world's most important problems. Le Guin has also written fiction set much closer to home; many of her short stories are set in our world in the present or the near future.

Fiction

Earthsea (fantasy)

The Earthsea novels

• A Wizard of Earthsea, 1968
• The Tombs of Atuan, 1971
• The Farthest Shore, 1972 (Winner of the National Book Award)
• Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea, 1990 (Winner of the Nebula Award)
• The Other Wind, 2001

The Earthsea short stories

• "The Word of Unbinding", 1975 (in The Wind's Twelve Quarters)
• "The Rule of Names", 1975 (in The Wind's Twelve Quarters)
• "Dragonfly " (in Legends, ed. Robert Silverberg; also in Tales from Earthsea)
• Tales from Earthsea, short story collection, 2001, ISBN 0151005613

Ekumen (science fiction)

Novels of the Ekumen

• Rocannon's World, 1966
• Planet of Exile, 1966
• City of Illusions, 1967
• The Left Hand of Darkness, 1969 (winner of the Hugo Award and Nebula Award)
• The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, 1974 (winner of the Hugo Award and Nebula Award)
• The Word for World is Forest, 1976 (winner of the Hugo Award)
• Worlds of Exile and Illusion , 1996 (omnibus of Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile and City of Illusions)
• The Telling , 2000

Short stories from the Ekumen

• "The Matter of Seggri ", 1994, (winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award; found in The Birthday of the World)
• "Solitude ", 1994, (winner of the Nebula Award; found in The Birthday of the World)
• "Mountain Ways ", 1996, (winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award; found in The Birthday of the World)
• "Old Music and the Slave Women ", 1999 (found in Far Horizons, ed. Robert Silverberg; also in The Birthday of the World)
• Four Ways to Forgiveness, 1995 (Four Stories of the Ekumen)

Miscellaneous novels and story cycles

• The Lathe of Heaven, 1971 (made into TV movies, 1980 and 2002)
• Malafrena, 1979
• The Eye of the Heron , 1982
• Always Coming Home, 1985

Short story collections

• The Wind's Twelve Quarters, 1975
• Orsinian Tales, 1976
• The Compass Rose, 1982
• Buffalo Gals, and Other Animal Presences , 1987
• Searoad , 1991
• A Fisherman of the Inland Sea, 1994
• Four Ways to Forgiveness, 1995
• Unlocking the Air and Other Stories, 1996
• The Birthday of the World, 2002, ISBN 0066212537
• Changing Planes , 2003, ISBN 0151009716

Children's and YA books

The Catwings Collection

• Catwings, 1988
• Catwings Return, 1989
• Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings, 1994
• Jane on Her Own, 1999

Other

• Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, 1976, ISBN 0152052089
• Leese Webster, 1979, ISBN 0689307152
• Solomon Leviathan's Nine Hundred and Thirty-First Trip Around the World, 1984, ISBN 0399214917
• A Visit from Dr. Katz, 1988, ISBN 0689313322
• Fire and Stone, 1989, ISBN 0689314086
• Fish Soup, 1992, ISBN 0689317336
• A Ride on the Red Mare's Back, 1992, ISBN 0531070794
• Tom Mouse, 2002, ISBN 0761315993

Nonfiction

Prose

• The Language of the Night, 1979, revised edition 1992
• Dancing at the Edge of the World, 1989
• Steering the Craft , 1998 (about writing)
• The Wave in the Mind , 2004

Poetry

• Wild Oats and Fireweed, 1988
• Going Out with Peacocks and Other Poems, 1994

Translations

• Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching, a Book about the Way & the Power of the Way, 1997 (a translation and commentary)
• Kalpa Imperial, 2003, from Angélica Gorodischer 's Spanish original.
• Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral, from Gabriela Mistral's Spanish originals.

See also: The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas

Le Guin is a prolific author and has published many works that are not listed here. Many works were originally published in science fiction literary magazines. Those that have not since been anthologized have fallen into obscurity.

Pronunciation of her surname

In a February 2004 on-line Q&A session organized by The Guardian, Le Guin was asked whether she pronounced her surname the French way or as most of her English-speaking fans did ("Luh Gwinn"). Her reply was Taoist in its duality: "Een zees country we say Luh Gwinn. En France nous disons Le Guin, comme le vin or le gain." [1]

External links

• Ursula Le Guin's homepage