About
Ursula K. Le Guin, born in Berkeley, California, is a major figure in fantasy and science fiction. Daughter of anthropologist Alfred Kroeber and writer Theodora Kroeber, she studied at Radcliffe and Columbia. Her work, marked by anthropology, Taoism, and feminism, explores social and philosophical themes. She was the first woman to win both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for 'The Left Hand of Darkness' (1969). Her Earthsea cycle, featuring dark-skinned protagonists, subverted genre conventions. Winner of numerous awards, she received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2014. She died in Portland in 2018.
* 1929-10-21 — † 2018-01-22
Major works
- The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)novel
- The Dispossessed (1974)novel
- A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)novel
- The Farthest Shore (1972)novel
- Tao Te Ching (1997)translation
Key milestones
- 1969Becomes the first woman to win both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for 'The Left Hand of Darkness'.
- 2000Named a 'Living Legend' by the Library of Congress.
- 2014Receives the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Themes
Cultural anthropologyTaoismFeminismJungian psychologySubversion of genre conventions
Sources: lccn.loc.gov · nationalbook.org · mopop.org
