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A Larger Reality
A beautiful compilation of poems, stories, essays, talks, and illustrations by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Edited and designed by Conner Bouchard-Roberts
With additional essays on Le Guin's thinking and craft by: adrienne maree brown, Isabelle Stengers, Moe Bowstern, Lola Milholland, Nisi Shawl, David Naimon, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Margaret Killjoy, Julie Phillips, and Harold Bloom.
This book serves as the accompanying publication to an art exhibition, of the same name, about Ursula’s life and work, showing Oregon Contemporary Museum (from Nov 1st 2025 - Feb 8th 2026) curated by the Author’s son, Theo Downes-Le Guin.
Edited and designed by Conner Bouchard-Roberts
With additional essays on Le Guin's thinking and craft by: adrienne maree brown, Isabelle Stengers, Moe Bowstern, Lola Milholland, Nisi Shawl, David Naimon, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Margaret Killjoy, Julie Phillips, and Harold Bloom.
This book serves as the accompanying publication to an art exhibition, of the same name, about Ursula’s life and work, showing Oregon Contemporary Museum (from Nov 1st 2025 - Feb 8th 2026) curated by the Author’s son, Theo Downes-Le Guin.
- GenresEssays
333 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2025
7 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Ursula K. Le Guin
1,047 books30.5k followersUrsula 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.
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.
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January 19, 2026
This book accompanies an exhibit on Le Guin's life and work at the Oregon Contemporary Art Museum in 2025 and 2026. It consists of short stories, poems, and essays that showcase her basic themes and range of talent. I'm not sure it's the best introduction to her work, but it's the only volume I'm aware of that combines her narrative fiction, poetry and essays. For that reason, it's an essential volume for any dedicated fan of Le Guin.
Displaying 1 of 1 review