Ursula K. Le Guin
(October 21, 1929 – January 23, 2018)
Ursula K. Le Guin (née Kroeber), an American pro writer of fantasy, was the first woman to win the Best Novel Hugo — for The Left Hand of Darkness in 1970. She was also the first woman to win the Best Short Story Hugo — for “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” in 1974.
Le Guin was GoH at the 1975 Worldcon, Aussiecon, the first woman to be so honored alone. (E. Mayne Hull in 1946, Leigh Brackett in 1964 and Juanita Coulson in 1972 were jointly gohs with their husbands.)
She was first published in the ’60s with more-or-less straightforward sf and the classic Earthsea Trilogy of YA fantasy books about the growth of a young wizard named Ged in a world of islands. Earthsea won numerous awards.
She admitted to having been an editor of Venom.
Le Guin refused a Nebula Award in 1977 for her story "The Diary of the Rose," in protest at the Science Fiction Writers of America's revocation of Stanislaw Lem's membership. She said she felt reluctant to receive an award "for a story about political intolerance from a group that had just displayed political intolerance."
In 1950, she had an illegal abortion, about which she later wrote as an advocate for women’s rights. In 1953, she married Charles Le Guin, a historian. They had three children, and lived in Portland, OR, beginning in 1959.
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1970 -- 1970 Best Novel Hugo
- 1972 -- Newbery Honor for The Tombs of Atuan
- 1973 -- 1973 Best Novella Hugo, National Book Award for Children's Books
- 1974 -- 1974 Best Short Story Hugo
- 1975 -- Aussiecon, 1975 Best Novel Hugo
- 1979 -- Gandalf Lifetime Achievement Award
- 1988 -- Mythcon XIX, Forry Award, 1988 Best Novelette Hugo
- 1989 -- Pilgrim Award
- 1990 -- Westercon 43
- 1993 -- ICFA 14
- 1994 -- Readercon 7
- 1995 -- World Fantasy Convention Lifetime Achievement Award, Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award
- 1996 -- WisCon 20
- 2000 -- Library of Congress Living Legends Award
- 2003 -- SFWA Grand Master Award
- 2004 -- ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Award
- 2014 -- National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
- 2017 -- 2017 Best Related Work Hugo
- 2018 -- 2018 Best Related Work Hugo
- 2019 -- FOGcon 9 Ghost of Honor
- 2021 -- U.S. postage stamp with her likeness issued
- Six Nebula Awards
- Many Locus Awards
- Many mundane literary prizes
| Person | 1929—2018 |
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