About Ursula K. Le Guin

Country of Birth

United States

Industry

Literature

Top achievements

Ursula K. Le Guin was an iconic author and influential woman in science fiction and fantasy literature. Some of her published works include the “Earthsea” series, “City of Illusions,” and “The Left Hand of Darkness.” She is also known for her essays on feminist issues, fantasy fiction, writing, and other topics. 

Le Guin’s work is considered groundbreaking for its radical exploration of gender roles and their moral intricacies and complexity. It includes 23 novels, 12 short-story collections, 11 poetry volumes, 13 children’s books, and five essay collections.

Early life and education

Le Guin was born in October 1929 in California, United States. She was the youngest child and only girl. Her mother was a writer, and her father was a highly regarded anthropologist. 

Her household was a creative environment in which art and culture were encouraged. After attending Radcliffe College, where she achieved a BA, Le Guin enrolled at Columbia University, where she graduated with an MA in 1952.

Career

After years of rejection by mainstream publishers, Le Guin turned to science fiction and fantasy and was finally accepted. Her first published novel, Rocannon’s World, came out in 1966. It set the stage for a series of books called the “Hainish Cycle.” The series features the planet Hain as the birthplace of humanity. 

Significant Works

Ursula Le Guin’s fictional and factual works contain philosophically relevant topics with great attention to detail. “The Left Hand of Darkness” explores a race of androgynous people. In “The Dispossessed,” Le Guin examines neighboring worlds with opposing but similar political frameworks. One society is lawless, and the other is capitalist. Both stifle freedom. 

“Word for World is Forest” is about the destruction of indigenous people on a planet that Earth colonized. “Always Coming Home” graphically paints a picture of the Kesh, survivors of a nuclear war living in California. It includes autobiography, legends, prose, poetry, and a tape recording of Kesh music. 

Achievements

Some of Ursula Le Guins’ most remarkable achievements include:

• Being awarded the Living Legend medal by the Library of Congress in 2000.
• The Howard Vursell Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
• The National Book Foundation medal for her “Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.”
• The Pen/Malamud Award.

Recognition

Some of the many honors Ursula Le Guin received during her distinguished career include a National Book Award, six Nebula Awards, and seven Hugo Awards. Three of her books were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award. In 2016, Le Guin became one of the very few authors published by the Library of America in their lifetimes.

Additional facts

• Ursula Le Guin (then Kroeber) met her future husband, Charles Le Guin, on a maritime journey to France. Both were Fullbright scholars. The couple married in 1953.
• James Cameron movie Avatar has been compared to Le Guin’s book “The Word for World is Forest”
• Theodora, Le Guin’s mother and also an influential woman, chronicled the life of Ishi, the last member of the Yahi tribe of indigenous America.
• Le Guin’s book “The Dispossessed” won several awards, including the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, and Jupiter awards.