For Ursula Le Guin

^{Photo by Jill Krementz, All Rights Reserved}

It was a great privilege to have my first experience of Ursula Le Guin's writing back in 2015. Late to the party, you could say, but I'm glad I arrived.

I picked up a copy of A Wizard of Earthsea — the first book in her Earthsea series — in Powell's Books, Portland OR. and devoured it. It wasn't until her passing this week that I learned that Ursula spent most of her life in Portland, a nice coincidence that I happened upon her work in that city.

I've been dipping in and out of her work ever since, continuing with the Earthsea books and some of her other works. I'm currently reading her translated version of Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching". I'm a big fan of her work and I'm glad there's so much left for me to read. It's sad in a way that death can jolt one into a period of obsession over another's work.

So many wonderful things about Le Guin have come to light over the past few days, things that have always been but a lot of us are only now seeing as her "legacy", of what she left behind.

I want to share a few things I've stumbled upon the past few days because they've brought me joy. And, of course, if you haven't already you must add Ursula's cannon of work to your reading list for the year, as I will be doing.

• Ursula K Le Guin, by Margaret Atwood: ‘One of the literary greats of the 20th century’
• For Ursula (a poem by Naomi Novik)
• Don't know where to start? The essential novels of Ursula K Le Guin
• "Gentlemen, I just don't belong here."
• Ursula Le Guin & Margaret Atwood discuss writing (audio)

“People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.” — Ursula Le Guin