A seasonally relevant quote for today (posted during a break from the rain—which is not quite like warm soup, at least).

Not just a novelist, @ursulakleguin.com was also a cartographer. Her fictional geographies were on display this fall at London’s Architectural Association Gallery, and a companion book on Silver Press sheds new light on her peerless world-building. Read our interview with editor/curator Sarah Shin.

A very colorful Swedish edition of The Dispossessed, circa 1976. Cover art by Per Åhlin.

It took a minute to find the right title for A Wizard of Earthsea. (This text is from a letter Ursula wrote to Herman Schein and Ruth Robbins of Parnassus Press, the original publishers of A Wizard of Earthsea.)

Ursula Le Guin's short story "Solitude" presents a fascinating counterpoint to the concept of the Happily Ever After ending, imagining alternative ways of thinking about the world, relationships, and the self:

Ursula had some edits to this 1974 edition of The Left Hand of Darkness. Understandable corrections, really.

We're delighted to see Fred Fordham's adaptation of A Wizard of Earthsea on Kirkus’s list of the year's best teen and YA graphic literature! www.kirkusreviews.com/book-lists/b...

This memorable 2017 quote found its way to life in an event this fall that was part of The Word for World exhibition in London. As part of "Dream Maps: A birthday part for Ursula K. Le Guin," Rain Wu created an edible landscape inspired by Ursula's work.

"A book won't move your eyes for you the way images on a screen do. It won't move your mind unless you give it your mind, or your heart unless you put your heart in it." —from "Staying Awake" (which originally appeared in Harper's and also appears in The Wild Girls, from PM Press)

The new Ursula K. Le Guin exhibition at Oregon Contemporary is a sprawling love note to Portland's most far-out visionary. The exhibition compiles her hand-drawn maps, and features a reproduction of her NW Thurman writing room... plus doodles of cats!!

This very good rabbit (drawn by Ursula) is the first thing you see when you crack open A Larger Reality, the book created by Winter texts to accompany the exhibition of the same name. (There are many very good Ursula drawings inside.) www.wintertexts.com/catalog/p/a-...

Who is ...

Covered one more prose-to-comics adaptation in my comics review newsletter: Fred Fordham's retelling of @ursulakleguin.com's A Wizard of Earthsea. buttondown.com/komiksoj/arc...

3 December: Ursula K. Le Guin's Futures: Theo Downes-Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com in conversation with SF Said @whatsfsaid.bsky.social at Burley Fisher @burleyfisher.bsky.social burleyfisherbooks.com/products/urs...

“The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-wracked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards.” This 2005 Science Fiction Book Club edition of the first three Earthsea novels has cover art by Leo & Diane Dillon.

An expansive exhibit at Oregon Contemporary, curated by the late, great Portland artist's son, opens up the speculative fiction writer's world and how she created new worlds in words.

Chicago! You can now pick up tickets to the world premiere of a new adaptation of The Left Hand of Darkness, presented with puppets:

A magazine asked Ursula to write about a book that changed her life. "A book? One book?" she wrote on her blog. You can read the whole post here: www.ursulakleguin.com/blog/100-a-b...

Vajra Chandrasekera (@vajra.me)'s Rakesfall recently received the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. In this new interview, Senior Books Editor @cxorlando.bsky.social asks him the author about genre boundaries, violence in fiction, and how Le Guin has inspired his writing:

At 4 pm this Friday, November 7th, join Theo Downes-Le Guin and Oregon Contemporary director Blake Shell for an introduction to A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin—part of the Portland Book Festival’s Cover to Cover program! Details: www.oregoncontemporary.org/a-larger-rea...

The new edition of Five Ways to Forgiveness that was published by Union Square earlier this year is now an audiobook! Recorded Books released this version—narrated by Michael Crouch and Frankie Corzo—last week.

Oops, yes, that was an autofill error: We meant Oregon CONTEMPORARY (which hopefully the website made clear!).

The finishing touches to A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin were made last night - and now the exhibition is open and on view at @oregonconsumer.bsky.social! We hope you’ll join us Saturday, November 1st, for the opening reception. Details: www.oregoncontemporary.org/a-larger-rea...

Vajra Chandrasekera has officially been awarded the 2025 iteration of the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize and our editor, Ayesha Channa, interviewed him about his experience. Interview Link: tasavvurnama.com/vajra-chandr... 🔮- #SouthAsian #SpeculativeFiction

“A Larger Reality,” curated by former Upfor Gallery owner Theo Downes-Le Guin, opens on Halloween.

Intergalactic Mixtape is live! This week, there’s a special section on the @ursulakleguin.com Prize for Fiction, with links to a collection of reviews for the winner, Rakesfall.

Coming next month: The 50th anniversary edition of The Wind's Twelve Quarters! This design nods back to the original hardcover jacket, which was by Patricia Voehl. The new cover is designed by Jamie Lynn Kerner. Harper Perennial publishes this edition on November 18th.

Congratulations to @vajra.me and RAKESFALL! It was a joy to be on the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction jury this year, alongside Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse. I'll treasure our discussions of RAKESFALL and the other finalists for a long time. Congrats, Vajra!

Loved serving on this jury. Loved the discussion, loved all the books on the shortlist. So very excited that the news is out.

When @ursulakleguin.com started writing a new novel, she would begin by drawing a map. The Word for World is the first publication focusing on her maps. THE WORD FOR WORLD: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin is available in the US from @pointreyesbooks.bsky.social Here: ptreyesbooks.com/book/9781068...

Celebrating Ursula K. Le Guin's birthday at The Word for World exhibition at Architectural Association, with an edible landscape by artist Rain Wu.

I am delighted and honoured to say that my second novel RAKESFALL has won the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction! vajra.me/2025/10/21/r...

Today would have been Ursula K. Le Guin’s 96th birthday. I celebrated by visiting The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin at AA Gallery in London. What a treat! A selection of her maps & drawings. And a beautiful book! Happy birthday @ursulakleguin.com www.aaschool.ac.uk/publicprogra...

We are DELIGHTED that @vajra.me's RAKESFALL is the winner of the 2025 @ursulakleguin.com Prize for Fiction! Huge congratulations Vajra and to all of the other finalists! See Vajra's acceptance speech here: https://geni.us/ursulak25 Buy the book: https://geni.us/rakesfall

Congratulations Vajra! ICYMI: here is our deep dive together into RAKESFALL, the winner of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction Audio: tinhouse.com/podcast/vajr... @ursulakleguin.com @vajra.me

I urge everyone to seek out RAKESFALL and every other book on the shortlist. You will find each of them worth your time, and each of them a significant, beautiful part of this accursed century's literature. Whatever happens, great art still exists, against all odds, and that is to be celebrated.

Congratulations to Vajra Chandrasekera (@vajra.me), recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for Rakesfall! Chandrasekera's book was chosen by authors Matt Bell, Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse.

And we're live! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5h5...

Less than an hour to go!

Out today, on what would’ve been Ursula K. Le Guin’s 96th birthday, The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin edited by Sarah Shin and @suchmayer.bsky.social. With thanks to Theo Downes-Le Guin and the Ursula K Le Guin Foundation @ursulakleguin.com 💙 www.silverpress.org/collections/...

Seattle folks! You might wish to stop by Elliott Bay Book Company at 7 pm on Tuesday, October 21st, when Winter Texts publisher Conner Bouchard-Roberts presents A Larger Reality, the book accompaniment to the upcoming exhibition. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

On Tuesday, October 21st—Ursula's birthday—we'll announce the recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction! Join Theo Downes-Le Guin and guest host Ebon Moss-Bachrach on YouTube for a live announcement at 9 am PDT. The announcement will happen here: www.youtube.com/@ursula.k.le...

🗞 In the new issue of Street Roots: New exhibit honoring Ursula K. Le Guin, homelessness in Corvallis, the 'emergency' World Naked Bike Ride and more. Find a vendor in your neighborhood: streetroots.org/vendors#locate

Nalo Hopkinson (@nalohop.bsky.social) reads from her novel Blackheart Man, which is shortlisted for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. For more about this year's shortlist: www.ursulakleguin.com/prize25

Rebecca Campbell won the 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for Arboreality; her followup, The Other Shore, is out today from the good folks at Stelliform Press!

The Word for World: an exhibition presenting the maps of Ursula K. Le Guin is now open at the AA Gallery! It's free and on until 6 Dec. Here are some photos from opening evening 🌀 www.aaschool.ac.uk/publicprogra...

Seattle folks! You might wish to stop by Elliott Bay Book Company at 7 pm on Tuesday, October 21st, when Winter Texts publisher Conner Bouchard-Roberts presents A Larger Reality, the book accompaniment to the upcoming exhibition. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

“But you are making plans / without a future and my now / is twisted into your crying.” Read “Entanglements,” a poem by Ursula K. Le Guin about cats.

Today, The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin opens at AA Gallery in London! Curated by Sarah Shin and Harriet Jennings, the exhibition presents a selection of Ursula's maps, including some that have never been exhibited before.

🌟 Shortlisted for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction 🌟 Remember You Will Die traces the lives of artists, activists, scientists, and more as they intersect with the existence of a yearning AI. Eden Robins weaves a polyphonic narrative that is intergenerational, art-filled, and subversive.