Instead of a visual artist, this week I want to highlight a writer: Ursula K. Le Guin. She is arguably also a visual artist in some ways, considering her uncanny ability to paint the most extraordinary and vivid pictures in the minds of her readers. I believe she is a one of the most underrated fantasy and science fiction authors in modern history.
While Dune is at the top of my favorite fiction works, Ursula’s work comes in second. It’s not because it’s had an influence on my work directly, or even because of any world building mechanisms she is a master of. Mostly, it’s because her worlds (especially A Wizard of Earthsea) have been my biggest escape since I was a child. My uncle gifted me his second edition copies of the Trilogy, and I get emotional thinking about how much these books were a part of my formative years. They are some of my most prized possessions. You can smell the old book in them just by looking at them!
Some of the most fascinating things about her are her connection with nature, her perception of what magic is, and her fearless yet gentle approach to topics like race, gender, and sexuality. She tackled loaded societal issues with elegance and grace. For anybody that knows me, I am very openly fucking pissed about how brilliant creators like herself have largely gone unmentioned next to names like Brian Herbert, Isaac Asimov, JRR Tolkien, and so on.
Hot take: her worlds may not have as much extensive writing as Tolkien’s around them, but they sure as shit pack more meaningful impact and discourse in way fewer words. “Speak less, say more,” as a wise person once said. As with all things, I’m sure her gender plays a role in all of this, and I am happy that in an age of expansive and instant info-sharing, her work has been getting its due more often. Her passing away in 2018 felt like the end of an entire era, and looking back now, it really was.
I hope you look into her work and her life at least a little, and that ultimately you pick up some of her books. A Wizard of Earthsea is an excellent place to start.
Dropping my podcast this Wednesday with Robek as my guest! Don’t miss it.
Here’s a gift for all of you last minute holiday shoppers!