Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (born October 21, 1929), is an American author. Although she has written novels, poetry, children's books, and essays, she is best known for her science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Le Guin has lived in Portland, Oregon since 1958. The daughter of the anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber and the writer Theodora Kroeber, she is noted for her exemplary style and for her exploration of Taoist, anarchist, feminist, psychological and sociological themes.

Biography

Le Guin became interested in literature when she was very young. At the age of eleven she submitted her first story to the magazine Astounding Science Fiction (it was rejected). She attended Harvard University's Radcliffe College and Columbia University, graduating with an M.A. She later studied in France, where she met her husband, Charles Le Guin. Her earliest writings (little was published at the time, but some was published in adapted form much later in Orsinian Tales and Malafrena), were non-fantastic stories of imaginary countries. Searching for a publishable way to express her interests, she returned to her early interest in science fiction and began to be published regularly in the early 1960s. She became famous after the publication of her 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness, which won the Hugo and Nebula awards.

Related Topics:
Magazine - Astounding Science Fiction - Harvard University - Radcliffe College - Columbia University - M.A. - France - Orsinian Tales - Malafrena - Imaginary countries - 1960s - 1969 - The Left Hand of Darkness - Hugo - Nebula

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Much of Le Guin's science fiction is distinctive in its strong emphasis on the social sciences, including sociology and anthropology. Her writing often makes use of unusual alien cultures to convey a message about our own culture; one example is the exploration of sexual identity through the hermaphroditic race in The Left Hand of Darkness.

Related Topics:
Social sciences - Sociology - Anthropology - Alien - Sexual identity - Hermaphroditic - The Left Hand of Darkness

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