Synopses & Reviews
Legendary author Ursula K. Le Guin was lauded by millions for her groundbreaking science fiction novels, but she began as a poet, and wrote across genres her entire career. In this clarifying and sublime collection — completed shortly before her death in 2018 — Le Guin is unflinching in the face of mortality, and full of wonder for the mysteries beyond. Redolent of the lush natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, with rich sounds playfully echoing myth and nursery rhyme, Le Guin bookends a long, daring, and prolific career.
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“Le Guin, of course, has long been one of our most powerful writers of conscience.” David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times
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“Ursula K. Le Guin’s prose breathes light and intelligence. She can lift fiction to the level of poetry and compress it to the density of allegory.” Jonathan Lethem
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“Le Guin writes as well as any non-‘genre’ writer alive.” Zadie Smith
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“Ursula Le Guin has had an extraordinary impact on several generations of readers and, particularly, writers in the United States and around the world. She has shown how great writing will obliterate the antiquated—and never really valid—line between popular and literary art. Her influence will be felt for decades to come.” Judges’ citation, National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
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“There is no writer with an imagination as forceful and delicate as Le Guin’s.” Grace Paley
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“She never loses touch with her reverence for the immense what is.” Margaret Atwood
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“It’s hard to think of another living author who has written so well for so long in so many styles as Ursula K. Le Guin.” Scott Timber, Salon
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“Le Guin’s farewell poetry collection, contains...sharp insight, restless imagination, humor that is both mordant and humane, and, above all else, that connection to all creation, that ‘immense what is’.” New York Journal of Books
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“[A]n astute, charming collection....The writing is clear, artful and reverent as Le Guin looks back at key memories and concerns and looks forward to what is next.” Washington Post
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“[Le Guin’s] writings and convictions were driven by a big heart — the heart of a poet who knew all too well the difference between miracle and eureka, revelation and revolution.” Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
About the Author
Ursula K. Le Guin was the author of over 60 novels, short fiction works, translations, and volumes of poetry. She was known widely for her works of science fiction and fantasy, including the acclaimed novels The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Le Guin received numerous awards and honors, and her books continue to sell millions of copies worldwide. An author of singular imagination and resolve, Le Guin died in 2018 at her home in Portland, Oregon.