Ursula K. Le Guin

@ursulakleguin

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was a celebrated author of novels, children’s books, poetry and essays. This account is managed by her estate.

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Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· 3d

Happy international cat day from the Toms of Atuan! (Ursula drew this on a postcard; you can also find the drawing in the Book of Cats).

A line drawing of four cats, captioned beneath, "The Toms of Atuan (who live on the Fartherest Shore)."

The first cat is curled up, croissant style, and looks disgruntled as he thinks "This is ridiculous." The second sits upright, and his speech bubble says, "Oh Marie! Marie! My own Marie!" The third cat is crouched as if to jump; his speech bubble reads, "Oomeoomeoo-meoomeoo." A fourth cat faces the viewer, standing, and says, "Err, Err, Err, myaaooww, Marie!"

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· 11d

Coming September 1st: A new edition of Changing Planes! This is part of Harper Perennial's limited Olive Editions line (which included The Wind's Twelve Quarters in 2022). This year's Olive selections are all science fiction and fantasy, and are illustrated by Ibrahim Rayintakath.

The cover of Changing Planes is illustrated in vertical stripes in shapes of purple and a sort of greenish white. In the middle, an oval shaped like an airplane window looks out onto the silhouette of a mountain, with a stylized sunset in the sky behind it. Three stars appear to zoom around the image, trailing yellow tails.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· 13d

Here's author @michelleruizkeil.bsky.social to introduce this week's episode of In Your Spare Time—which you can listen to here (or wherever you get your podcasts!): inyoursparetime.libsyn.com/michelle-rui...

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· 18d

This extremely early work of Ursula’s appeared in the anthology First Words: Earliest Writing from Contemporary Favorite Writers, edited by Paul Mandelbaum and published by Algonquin in 1993. (“Krakie” was a nickname for Ursula’s mother.)

To Krakie
by Ursula Kroeber
(1934, age 4)

Bears like honey,
I do too.
I like you, honey,
I sure do.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· 25d

Coming in November from Tor Essentials: a new edition of The Word for World is Forest, with an introduction from @stephengrahamjones.com! On shelves November 17th. Cover design by Shreya Gupta.

The new cover for The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin, which shows the title, author's name, and "a new introduction by Stephen Graham Jones" in blue, yellow, and green clouds, over a background of smoking tree stumps and a sickly-colored sky and ground

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· 29d

If you're in Seattle, don't miss this event at Elliott Bay Book Company on Thursday (7/16): Theo Downes-Le Guin will be in conversation with author and editor Nisi Shawl about The Curve of the World, Vonda N. McIntyre's final novel, which was recently published by Aqueduct Press.

An event graphic for the conversation between Nisi Shawl and Theo Downes-Le Guin that takes place at 7 pm Thursday, July 16th, at Elliott Bay Book Company.

Two copies of A Winter Solstice Ritual from the Pacific Northwest by Ursula K. Le Guin and Vonda N. McIntyre: one darker and photocopied, one the pale blue earlier printing.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Jul 6

Four more images from the Croatian edition of The Compass Rose, this time by Klara Rusan.

The black-and-white illustration for the story "Intracom" shows a figure in a black dress on the right, facing a worm-like figure on the left. Both stand in front of a door; an arm sticks through the mail slot. Plates and food are scattered across the floor.

In the black-and-white image for "The Eye Altering," two figures sit in a room. One wears a white coat and sits on a chair; the other is wearing only shorts and sits on a neatly made bed. A large window behind both figures shows a dark hillside and a glowing object in the sky beyond.

In the black-and-white illustration for "Mazes," a nude figure seems to swim through a simple maze. What looks like grain awaits the figure in one corner; what look like fingers (though there are too many of them) overlap the edge of the maze in two places.

The black-and-white illustration for the story "Pathways of Desire" shows many figures in a body of water. Around the edges, long-haired figures in bikinis dance, their hair big and curly. In the center, four nude figures seem to be washing clothes.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Jun 29

We're thrilled to present the shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction:

A bouquet of flowers next to a stack of books that includes:

Audition by Pip Adam (Coffee House Press)
Sunward by William Alexander (Saga Press)
Call and Response by Christopher Caldwell (Neon Hemlock)
Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur (Algonquin)
The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes (Tor Books)
Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman (Tor Books)
Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta (DAW Books)
One Message Remains by Premee Mohamed (Psychopomp)
Slow Gods by Claire North (Orbit)

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Jun 23

The novella "Paradises Lost" first appeared in the collection The Birthday of the World (HarperCollins, 2002).

"History must be what we have escaped from. It is what we were, not what we are. History is what we need never do again." Ursula K. Le Guin, from "Paradises Lost," 2002

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Jun 19

This year is the 50th anniversary of the standalone edition of The Word for World is Forest. This Berkley Medallion edition is from December 1976. Cover art by Richard Powers.

The cover for the 1976 edition of The Word for World is Forest is all shades of green: The author's name is across the top in white, under which smaller text says "author of The Left Hand of Darkness." The book title is a vivid yellow, and under that text says "the mind-stunning science fiction masterpiece." The illustration shows a female fiture with long hair, nude, behind a lot of waving green growths that emanate from a round planet-like shape at the lower right. There are bits of red and yellow mixed in, giving the whole thing a cellular vibe. In the foreground, at the bottom, are green figures, not quite human-like.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Jun 15

A gem from the archive: a poster for Ursula's first public talk, at Portland State University in 1971. Were you there? If you attended any of Ursula's earliest events, we'd love to hear about the experience! Thank you to @julie-phillips.com for the image!

A hand-drawn poster, in purple ink on white paper, reads:
Ursula K. Le Guin
internationally acclaimed science-fiction Authoress
SPEAKS
today
Thursday
March 11
3:00 pm
53 Cramer Hall

and in very small writing at the bottom, it says "COME AND BECOME ENLIGHTENED."

There are doodles all around - a moon at the top, a sort of flower/vine that goes around the sides and bottom, and a doorway/stone hall in which a humanlike figure looks forlorn.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Jun 9

And four more images from the Croatian edition of The Compass Rose! These are by Daria Čičmir Marković.

Art by Daria Čičmir Marković for the story "The First Report of the Shipwrecked Foreigner to the Kadanh of Derb," which shows a black shape, somewhat egglike, with a corklike bit at the top. Inside the shape is a white cat, eyes closed happily, sleeping on its side.

Art by Daria Čičmir Marković for the story "The Diary of the Rose." In the middle of the black and white image is a rose; on either side there are two black shapes that might be large rocks. Both have squiggles through them. On the left stands a figure in a dress. On the white there appears to be a polar bear that is smelling the rose.

Art by Daria Čičmir Marković for the story "The White Donkey." This piece has a solid black background. In white appears the shape of a donkey, lying down, two legs visible to the viewer. Behind it are additional shapes that are hard to describe - one resembled an upside-down, half-peeled banana - and behind that, a much smaller figure with wings, wearing a dress.

Art by Daria Čičmir Marković for the story "The Phoenix" shows several flowers; at the bottom two smaller flowers grow up from the bottom of the frame, a crowned bird on the left one, while in the middle a figure sits on the flower's stem, glad in a black dress or coat, a huge white bird flying from her hand like a kite.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Jun 8

The Complete Earthsea box set, with art by Olivia Lomenech Gill, is coming this fall from Library of America. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/834013...

The box set cover for The Complete Earthsea shows, on the spine, a hawk and a black bird above the title; at the bottom it lists the contents of the set (the books of Earthsea, plus stories and essays; edited by Brian Attebery). At the bottom is a white city and a stretch of ocean. The front image shows the continued ocean in the foreground, with a figure in the distance; the sky is full of dragons and a seagull, all surrounded by light, and dragon wings reflect in the water.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· May 26

Ursula with her Nebula Award for The Left Hand of Darkness, 1970

Ursula K. Le Guin, with short brown hair, wearing a black dress and a beaded necklace, holds the Nebula Award for Best Novel for The Left Hand of Darkness.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· May 18

Three more images from the new Croatian edition of The Compass Rose! These are by Laura Martinović.

The illustration for "Two Delays on the Northern Line" is a black and white image of puzzle pieces, not quite fitting together. At the bottom you see what looks like a page of a book and some small white shapes, perhaps pills, on a table next to it. In the bottom right corner piece, part of a train engine. In the middle left, a keyring with several skeleton keys. In the center, a person with short dark hair and a collared shirt. Several bottles overlap from the center piece to the center-top piece, and to the right there is a pile of envelopes.

The black-and-white illustration for "Small Change" consists largely of square shapes, perhaps boxes lines up along a central row; one has kitchen implements sticking out the top, and another is home to what looks like a horse. The outlines of three vases, done in white, are in the top left corner, and the box in the lower right has constellations. A white shape like a river of milk flows out of one box through the center of the image.

The black-and-white illustration for "SQ" shows a room with a checkered floor and bars on three sides. Behind the bars are people, some looming over the top of the bars, or trying to climb them. A sign reads "welcome" over the clearly locked doors.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· May 13

This week on In Your Spare Time, @leahschnelbach.bsky.social reads post 5, "Exorcists." In November 2010, a conference of Roman Catholic bishops in Baltimore led Ursula to write about exorcisms, holiness, and the makeup of the Supreme Court. inyoursparetime.libsyn.com/leah-schnelb...

The show cover for In Your Spare Time includes the name of the podcast, Ursula K. Le Guin's name, and a drawing (by Ursula) of a cat, loafed up, seen from behind. Under it, the content of this week's episode: Leah Schnelbach reads post 5, "Exorcists"

A photo of writer Leah Schnelbach, overlaid with the cat image from the show cover

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· May 11

"A War Without End" is collected in The Wave in the Mind (Shambhala, 2004). You can also read it here: www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/3...

"The exercise of imagination is dangerous to those who profit from the way things are because it has the power to show that the way things are is not permanent, not universal, not necessary." from "A War Without End" by Ursula K. Le Guin, 2003

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· May 6

On this week's episode, Omar El Akkad reads "Someone Named Delores," which begins with Ursula's response to a single sentence, then delves into issues of class and language before transforming into a beautiful appreciation of a woman named Delores. inyoursparetime.libsyn.com/omar-el-akka...

A graphic includes the text In Your Spare Time: Ursula K. Le Guin and Omar El Akkad reads Post 4, Someone Named Delores. The background is teal and white, and Ursula's drawing of a loafed-up cat, seen from behind, is at the bottom of the image.

Photo of Omar El Akkad by Kateshia Pendergrass

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· May 5

Out today: A new edition of The Dispossessed, from Harper's American Classics series! www.harpercollins.com/products/the...

The new edition of The Dispossessed has a simple design: the background is purple, and a white box in the middle includes the title, author, category (fiction) and original publication year (1974). Two orbs sit at the top and bottom of the box, representing the Urras and Anarres from the book.

The back of the book has black text on the purple background, with the quote "You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution."

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· May 4

Last year, Croatian publisher Artikularij released a gorgeous illustrated version of The Wind's Twelve Quarters. Now, they're back for The Compass Rose, which has artwork by six different illustrators. These three illustrations are by Agata Lučić.

Black-and-white illustration for "The Author of the Acacia Seeds" by Agata Lučić shows plants and animals, some with cords connecting them, suggesting communicatoin. Three penguins stand together, a horse-like shape is plugged into a large leaf, a dolphin stands alone, a human figure is plugged into a shrub, and a dog or wolf is connected to a large tree-plant with five leaves. At the back, a portrait of a carrot is framed on a wall.

Black-and-white illustration for "The New Atlantis" by Agata Lučić shows a woman in a boat on the waves, raising one hand to a sun-star shape in the sky

Black-and-white illustration for "Schrodinger's cat" by Agata Lučić shows the figure of a human and a dog, outlined in white, against a background that shows three light-gray vertical pillars, and behind that, the suggestion of a plant.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Apr 29

This week on In Your Spare Time, @adriennemareebrown.bsky.social reads post 3, "The Absent Silence," from October 27, 2010. inyoursparetime.libsyn.com/adrienne-mar...

graphic with the cover of In Your Spare Time, which shows a drawing of a cat, loafed up and facing away. Text underneath says "adrienne maree brown reads Post 3, 'The Absent Silence'"

Photo of adrienne maree brown by Anajli Pinto

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Apr 27

"I love it. But I don’t quite understand it and what Le Guin was doing with it and how it works. It’s full of very specific time and place that feels absolutely real, as if I read a book set in the 1820s and I could go there now..." —Jo Walton on Malafrena reactormag.com/jo-waltons-r...

A copy of the Library of America edition of The Complete Orsinia, containing Malafrena and Stories and Songs. The cover has a black and white photo of Ursula in the upper right corner, and "Le Guin" in a lush serif font above LOA's usual red-white-and-blue stripe

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Apr 21

We're thrilled that Fred Fordham's graphic novel adaptation of A Wizard of Earthsea is a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story or Comic!

A copy of the graphic novel adaptation of A Wizard of Earthsea. The cover shows a figure walking away from an ocean. The figure's shadow stretches out long and looming behind them.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Apr 17

This week's podcast reader is Julie Phillips, Ursula's biographer, who reads post 1, "In Your Spare Time." Listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts! inyoursparetime.libsyn.com

In Your Spare Time: Julie Phillips reads post 1, "In Your Spare Time."

The graphic images is in white and teal, and includes one of Ursula K. Le Guin's cat drawings. The cat is loafed up and facing away from the viewer, ears alert, tail probably about to swing.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Apr 13

James S.A. Corey, writing in The New York Times www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/b...

The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Any list of great science fiction writers has to include Le Guin, and “The Left Hand of Darkness” is among her best works. The male human Genly Ai and the ambisexual alien Estraven navigate an icy planet that is as complex, grounded and fraught as the setting of any John le Carré spy novel. In addition to being a gripping adventure story, the book is a profound exploration of what’s left after a species puts aside standard ideas of gender. The book was a provocative read when it first came out, and it’s a provocative read now.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Apr 10

A well-worn copy of Western Humanities Review, Summer 1961, which included Ursula’s first published short story, “An die Musik.”

The periodical Western Humanities Review rests on a striped and pattered textile background. It is the summer of 1961 edition, and the table of contents includes "A World Divided in an Age of Space: A Symposium," with five parts; "The Next Human Nature" by Robert J. Blakely; "An die Musik" by Ursula Kroeber Le Guin; "Fathers and Sons: The Novel as Idyll" by James H. Justus; "William Styron's Long March: Absurdity and Authority" by Eugene McNamara; and poetry, notes, and book reviews. It cost 75 cents.

There is a rock holding down the upper right side, where the corner wants to curl.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Apr 6

Now on view at southern California's Descanso Gardens: Journal of Therolinguistics, an exhibition curated by Oscar Salguero. www.descansogardens.org/visit/sturt-...

Journal of Therolinguistics, March 21 - July 5, Descanso Gardens

Inset photo is of Bork Bibliothek by Nicole Brugger, and shows a brunette person reaching up to arrange a stick in one of many cubbies showing strange writing and other sticks.

Intercommunications for the Fertile Earth by Paige Emery. A person with long dark hair, dressed in shades of blue, stands in a room surrounded by plants and other things in shades of blue, including a tall stand that holds up a blue piece of glass. Blue bottles in a windowsill hold yet more plants. Even the floor is blue.

Lichen Grammar by Aiste Ambrazeviciute. A statue stands against a pale mauve background; it is done in shades of green and white, with gold along certain edges, and resembles a lichen.

Tree Tongue by Audax M. Gawler and Pri Bertucci. The image has a black background; in the foreground is a shape in many shades of green, with squiggles of all different sorts inside of it. A larger squiggle at the center gives the impression of a skeleton.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Apr 2

Introducing In Your Spare Time: A Podcast of the Blog of Ursula K. Le Guin! inyoursparetime.libsyn.com

A drawing, by Ursula K. Le Guin, of a loafed-up black cat as seen from behind. The cat's tail curls around the podcast title IN YOUR SPARE TIME. Ursula K. Le Guin's name is at the top of the image, which has a teal background.

Ursula K. Le Guin@ursulakleguin· Mar 30

Less than two days to go! Nominations for the 2026 Le Guin Prize close at midnight tomorrow, March 31st. If you need an incentive, here's a fun fact: one lucky nominator will be chosen at random to win this gorgeous stack of books—last year's entire shortlist! www.ursulakleguin.com/prize-nomina...