Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula Kroeber was born in 1929 to Alfred Kroeber, an anthropologist, and Theodora Kroeber, a writer. She and her three older brothers grew up in Berkeley, California. Le Guin developed a love of reading at a young age, during which time she became acquainted with science fiction and fantasy writing through issues of Thrilling Wonder Stories and Astounding Science Fiction. Le Guin earned her Bachelor’s degree from Radcliff College and continued her studies at Columbia University, pursuing a Masters of Arts degree in French. While at work on her Ph.D., she received a Fulbright grant to study in France in 1953, and it was there where she met historian Charles Le Guin, whom she married in Paris later that year. Le Guin and her husband had three children together, and the family ultimately settled in Portland, Oregon after Charles Le Guin was awarded a position at Portland State University. Le Guin’s writing career began in the 1950s, and she would continue to publish for nearly 60 years. Le Guin published A Wizard of Earthsea, a fantasy novel, in 1968, which garnered critical acclaim. Her first major work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness, was published in 1969 and established Le Guin as an important author of Science Fiction. The novel won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel, and Le Guin was the first woman to win either award. The Left Hand of Darkness is considered “groundbreaking” for its nuanced exploration of gender. Some of Le Guin’s other important works from this time include The Word for World is Forest (1972), which won the Hugo award, and The Dispossessed (1974), which won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel, and Always Coming Home (1985), which received the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Le Guin’s work frequently engages with themes of gender, sexuality, morality, and politics. Le Guin was greatly influenced by Taoist thought, and many of her works, including The Lathe of Heaven, A Wizard of Earthsea, and The Dispossessed, engage with Taoism. Le Guin’s prolific body of work includes over 20 novels and 12 volumes of short stories, as well as numerous volumes of poetry, children’s books, and essay collections. She published four translations, including the Tao Te Ching (1997). Many of her works have been the subject of critical and academic studies. In 2010, Le Guin, then in her 80s, started a blog, which may be accessed on her website. She published her final post in September 2017. Le Guin died in Portland, Oregon, on January 22, 2018, at age 88.