The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin

by Ursula K. Le Guin, So Mayer (Editor), Sarah Shin (Editor)

When Ursula K. Le Guin started writing a new story, she would begin by drawing a map. The Word for World presents a selection of these images by the celebrated author, many of which have never been published before, to consider how her imaginary worlds enable us to re-envision our own.

Le Guin’s maps offer journeys of consciousness beyond conventional cartography, from the Rorschach-like archipelagos of Earthsea to the talismanic maps of Always Coming Home. Rather than remaining within known terrain, they open up paradigms of knowledge, exemplified by the map’s edges and how a map is read, made and re-made, together. The Word for World brings her maps together with poems, stories, interviews, recipes and essays by contributors from a variety of perspectives to enquire into the relationship between worlds and how they are represented and imagined.

Contributors: Federico Campagna, Theo Downes-Le Guin, Daniel Heath Justice, Bhanu Kapil, Canisia Lubrin, Una McCormack, David Naimon, Nisha Ramayya, Shoshone Collective, Standard Deviation, Marilyn Strathern.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Speculative Fiction, Books About Books, Poetry

153 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2026

About the author

Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.

She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.

Reviews

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 4 out of 5]

For fans of Le Guin, this is a nice companion to her books. It shows many of the maps she drew, both published and unpublished, for books such as A Wizard of Earthsea and its sequels, The Dispossessed, and Always Coming Home.

There are discussions of her interest in maps and how she developed them. There are also poems or flash fiction that appear to be homages to her work. The most informative essay is by her son, Theo, who recounts what he knows about his mother's interest in maps, her attitude toward their value, and how she went about creating them.

One unfortunate detail is that this is a small paperback work, in black and white, with the maps scaled to the page size. I would have wanted a larger book to more easily examine the details in the maps, and also perhaps render some in color if she added any. However, I understand that the rather limited interest in a book of this kind probably precluded anything with a higher production cost.

[Ainhoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pensar en forma de mapa es una geografía de la imaginación tan bella como interesante. Otorga el poder de reestructuración al cartógrafo-dios, pero también el riesgo de reproducir silenciosamente ideologías. Un mapa puede ser herramienta de rebelión y, cuando es muy cercano al corazón, talismán. Ursula Ursula Ursula.

[mati Street · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book maps matters of spirituality, of rebellion, of community, of the knowing before knowing which we so often forget. And of the knowing we may have the privilege to explore after it’s all finished.

[Goran Lowie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only recommend for Le Guin diehards-- it's exactly what it says on the tin.

[Cecilia]

I liked the essay on Always Coming Home the best :) when you know a landscape so intimately that maps can become talismans, rather than guides…

[Popo · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is little I love more, than a great map. Great to see how these are made!

[Maria Longley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book at an exhibition of the same name. The exhibition had hanging cyanotypes of maps from Ursula Le Guin's books and short stories as well as a few other illustrations (including instructions on how to draw her dragons) and some talismatic maps carved into stone. It was lovely to look around it and this book is very much a companion piece.

There are twelve short reflections or responses to the maps of UKLG as well as plenty of images of said maps. Just because I know him from a different context it was a nice surprise to see a piece by Federico Campagna here. I enjoyed the buffolo stew map as there are really a lot of ways to "do mapping" and it was great to see Sur and Always Coming Home get so much love.

[Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and informative, but the subject matter is directly involved and invested in a bygone exhibition of Le Guin’s work. I think as a standalone text it does suffer from not being a part of that exhibition; or perhaps I suffer as a reader for not attending it.

There are some pieces of writing which are really verbose and hard to follow. Let’s call it very ‘academic’ in style - with nouned-verbs and the like. This is a bit of a clash with much of what I value about Le Guin as a writer and essayist.

Some of the prose-poetry I didn’t connect with.

However, the unpublished maps and the indigenous perspectives responding to her literature were really wonderful and well worth the admission price.

[Lisa]

fint å se kartene hennes og noen fine essays, men også noen litt kjedelige

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruminations upon, and images of, the maps which Ursula Le Guen drew for her books and as part of her writing process.

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like bigger maps.

Discussion of maps is great.

Literary bits are out of my reach.