URSULA K. LE GUIN
Born in 1929 in Berkeley, California, daughter of writer Theodora Kroeber and
anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber. In 1953 married historian Charles A. Le Guin.
Three children, four grandchildren. Lives in Oregon.
Education
Radcliffe College B.A. 1951; Columbia University M.A. 1952
Academic honors
Phi Beta Kappa 1951
Columbia University Fellow 1952
Fulbright Fellow 1953.
Honorary degrees
Bucknell University, Lawrence University, the University of Oregon, Western
Oregon State College, Lewis & Clark College, Occidental College, Emory
University, Kenyon College, Portland State University
Teaching positions
Instructor in French
Mercer College
University of Idaho
Lecturer or Writer in Residence
Clarion West
Portland State University
Pacific University
Reading University (England)
First Australian Workshop in Speculative Fiction
Indiana University Writers Conference
Revelle College of the University of California, San Diego
Kenyon College
Tulane University Mellon Lecturer
Bennington College Writing Program
Beloit College
Haystack Summer Program of Portland State University
Flight of the Mind Writing Workshop
Stanford University
San José State University
Malheur Field Station Summer Writing Workshop
Publications
Twenty novels; many short stories in ten collections reprinted from periodicals
including The New Yorker, Omni, Redbook, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Fantastic,
Amazing, Playboy, Playgirl, Tri-Quarterly, Kenyon Review, etc. Six volumes of
poetry, many poems reprinted from periodicals including Calyx, Milkweed, Kenyon
Review, Mr Cogito, Seattle Review, NW Review, Open Places, Backbone, Orion,
Parabola, Paradoxa. Four volumes of translation. Thirteen books for children.
Criticism in periodicals including The Yale Review, Antaeus Foundation, SF
Studies, Calyx, Critical Inquiry, Parabola, and four collections of essays.
Screenplays; sound recordings.
Literary honors and awards
2006 Maxine Cushing Gray Fellowship for Writers for distinguished body of work.
Washington Center for the Book.
2004 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement (YALSA)
2004 Arbuthnot Lecturer (American Library Association)
2003 Grand Master, SFWA
2003 Locus Readers Award: "The Wild Girls"
2003 Asimov's Readers Award: "The Wild Girls"
2003 Endeavor Award: Tales from Earthsea
2002 PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction
2002 Willamette Writers Lifetime Achievement Award
2002 Locus Readers Awards: Tales from Earthsea, "The Bones of the Earth,"
2002 Locus Readers Awards: Tales from Earthsea, "The Finder"
2001 Endeavor Award: The Telling
2001 Locus Readers Awards for The Telling and "The Birthday of the World."
2001 Lifetime Achievement Award, Pacific NW Booksellers Assoc. UKL Interview.
2000 Robert Kirsch Lifetime Achievement Award, L.A. Times
1998 Bumbershoot Arts Award, Seattle
Introduction: "Ursula K. Le Guin: Mutinous Navigator," by Vonda N. McIntyre [offsite
link]
1997 James Tiptree Jr. Award for "Mountain Ways"
1996 Locus Readers Award for Four Ways to Forgiveness
1996 James Tiptree Jr. Retrospective Award for Left Hand of Darkness
1995 Nebula Award for "Solitude"
1995 Theodore Sturgeon Award for "Forgiveness Day"
1995 Locus Readers Award for "Forgiveness Day"
1994 James Tiptree, Jr, Award for "The Matter of Seggri"
1995 Asimov's Readers Award for "Forgiveness Day"
1995 Hubbub annual poetry award for "Semen"
1992 H.L.Davis Fiction Award from OLA for Searoad
1992 Searoad shortlisted for Pulitzer Prize
1991 Harold Vursell Award, American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters
1991 Pushcart Prize for "Bill Weisler"
1990 Nebula Award for Tehanu
1988 Hugo Award for "Buffalo Gals"
1988 International Fantasy Award for "Buffalo Gals"
1987 Prix Lectures-Jeunesse for Very Far Away from Anywhere Else (tr. Laroche)
1986 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Fiction for Always Coming Home
1985 Always Coming Home shortlisted for National Book Award
1984 Locus Award for The Compass Rose
1979 Gandalf Award (Grand Master of Fantasy)
1979 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for A Wizard of Earthsea
1976 Jupiter Award for "The Diary of the Rose"
1975 Nebula Award for The Dispossessed
1975 Hugo Award for The Dispossessed
1975 Nebula Award for "The Day Before the Revolution"
1975 Jupiter Award for "The Day Before the Revolution"
1974 Hugo Award for "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
1973 Locus Award for The Lathe of Heaven
1973 Hugo Award for The Word for World is Forest
1972 National Book Award for Children's Books for The Farthest Shore
1972 Newbery Silver Medal Award for The Tombs of Atuan
1969 Hugo Award for The Left Hand of Darkness
1969 Nebula Award for The Left Hand of Darkness
1968 Boston Globe-Horn Book award for A Wizard of Earthsea
Born in 1929 in Berkeley, California, daughter of writer Theodora Kroeber and
anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber. In 1953 married historian Charles A. Le Guin.
Three children, four grandchildren. Lives in Oregon.
Education
Radcliffe College B.A. 1951; Columbia University M.A. 1952
Academic honors
Phi Beta Kappa 1951
Columbia University Fellow 1952
Fulbright Fellow 1953.
Honorary degrees
Bucknell University, Lawrence University, the University of Oregon, Western
Oregon State College, Lewis & Clark College, Occidental College, Emory
University, Kenyon College, Portland State University
Teaching positions
Instructor in French
Mercer College
University of Idaho
Lecturer or Writer in Residence
Clarion West
Portland State University
Pacific University
Reading University (England)
First Australian Workshop in Speculative Fiction
Indiana University Writers Conference
Revelle College of the University of California, San Diego
Kenyon College
Tulane University Mellon Lecturer
Bennington College Writing Program
Beloit College
Haystack Summer Program of Portland State University
Flight of the Mind Writing Workshop
Stanford University
San José State University
Malheur Field Station Summer Writing Workshop
Publications
Twenty novels; many short stories in ten collections reprinted from periodicals
including The New Yorker, Omni, Redbook, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Fantastic,
Amazing, Playboy, Playgirl, Tri-Quarterly, Kenyon Review, etc. Six volumes of
poetry, many poems reprinted from periodicals including Calyx, Milkweed, Kenyon
Review, Mr Cogito, Seattle Review, NW Review, Open Places, Backbone, Orion,
Parabola, Paradoxa. Four volumes of translation. Thirteen books for children.
Criticism in periodicals including The Yale Review, Antaeus Foundation, SF
Studies, Calyx, Critical Inquiry, Parabola, and four collections of essays.
Screenplays; sound recordings.
Literary honors and awards
2006 Maxine Cushing Gray Fellowship for Writers for distinguished body of work.
Washington Center for the Book.
2004 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement (YALSA)
2004 Arbuthnot Lecturer (American Library Association)
2003 Grand Master, SFWA
2003 Locus Readers Award: "The Wild Girls"
2003 Asimov's Readers Award: "The Wild Girls"
2003 Endeavor Award: Tales from Earthsea
2002 PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction
2002 Willamette Writers Lifetime Achievement Award
2002 Locus Readers Awards: Tales from Earthsea, "The Bones of the Earth,"
2002 Locus Readers Awards: Tales from Earthsea, "The Finder"
2001 Endeavor Award: The Telling
2001 Locus Readers Awards for The Telling and "The Birthday of the World."
2001 Lifetime Achievement Award, Pacific NW Booksellers Assoc. UKL Interview.
2000 Robert Kirsch Lifetime Achievement Award, L.A. Times
1998 Bumbershoot Arts Award, Seattle
Introduction: "Ursula K. Le Guin: Mutinous Navigator," by Vonda N. McIntyre [offsite
link]
1997 James Tiptree Jr. Award for "Mountain Ways"
1996 Locus Readers Award for Four Ways to Forgiveness
1996 James Tiptree Jr. Retrospective Award for Left Hand of Darkness
1995 Nebula Award for "Solitude"
1995 Theodore Sturgeon Award for "Forgiveness Day"
1995 Locus Readers Award for "Forgiveness Day"
1994 James Tiptree, Jr, Award for "The Matter of Seggri"
1995 Asimov's Readers Award for "Forgiveness Day"
1995 Hubbub annual poetry award for "Semen"
1992 H.L.Davis Fiction Award from OLA for Searoad
1992 Searoad shortlisted for Pulitzer Prize
1991 Harold Vursell Award, American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters
1991 Pushcart Prize for "Bill Weisler"
1990 Nebula Award for Tehanu
1988 Hugo Award for "Buffalo Gals"
1988 International Fantasy Award for "Buffalo Gals"
1987 Prix Lectures-Jeunesse for Very Far Away from Anywhere Else (tr. Laroche)
1986 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Fiction for Always Coming Home
1985 Always Coming Home shortlisted for National Book Award
1984 Locus Award for The Compass Rose
1979 Gandalf Award (Grand Master of Fantasy)
1979 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for A Wizard of Earthsea
1976 Jupiter Award for "The Diary of the Rose"
1975 Nebula Award for The Dispossessed
1975 Hugo Award for The Dispossessed
1975 Nebula Award for "The Day Before the Revolution"
1975 Jupiter Award for "The Day Before the Revolution"
1974 Hugo Award for "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
1973 Locus Award for The Lathe of Heaven
1973 Hugo Award for The Word for World is Forest
1972 National Book Award for Children's Books for The Farthest Shore
1972 Newbery Silver Medal Award for The Tombs of Atuan
1969 Hugo Award for The Left Hand of Darkness
1969 Nebula Award for The Left Hand of Darkness
1968 Boston Globe-Horn Book award for A Wizard of Earthsea