Le Guin, Ursula << luh GWIHN, UR suh luh, >> K. (1929-2018), was an American author of science fiction and fantasy for children and adults. Many critics consider her fantasy adventures, which are popular with both children and adults, as her best writing. These works include her most popular works for children, the “Earthsea” trilogy.
The “Earthsea” trilogy consists of A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan (1971), and The Farthest Shore (1972). These books describe the adventures of a wizard named Ged, as a boy and adult, in the imaginary land of Earthsea. Le Guin continued the story in the novels Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea (1990) and The Other Wind (2001), and in the short-story collection Tales from Earthsea (2001). Sixteen of her other short stories were collected in Changing Planes (2003). She also wrote a fantasy series called “Annals of the Western Shore.” The series includes Gifts (2004), Voices (2006), and Powers (2007). Le Guin wrote a historical novel called Lavinia (2008), set in ancient Italy.
Le Guin’s finest novels for adults include The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and The Dispossessed (1974). Many of her short stories appear in The Wind’s Twelve Quarters (1975), Orsinian Tales (1976), The Birthday of the World (2002), and The Unreal and the Real (two volumes, 2012). In 2016, the Library of America published The Complete Orsinia, which includes the novel Malafrena, set in an imaginary central European country, and 13 related stories. Le Guin’s essays on science fiction and fantasy were published in Language of the Night (1979). Dancing at the Edge of the World (1989) is a collection of her essays, speeches, and reviews. Another collection of nonfiction pieces was published as No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters (2017). A collection of Le Guin’s poetry was published shortly after her death as So Far So Good: Final Poems 2014-2018 (2018).
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was born on Oct. 21, 1929, in Berkeley, California. She died on Jan. 22, 2018. A documentary motion picture, Worlds of Ursula Le Guin, was released in 2018, shortly after her death.
