Audiobooks by Ursula K. Le Guin

Cheek by Jowl: Talks & Essays on How & Why Fantasy Matters

"Aqueduct Press is pleased to announce the release of Cheek by Jowl, a collection of talks and essays on how and why fantasy matters, by Ursula K. Le Guin. In these essays, Le Guin argues passionately that the homogenization of our world makes the work of fantasy essential for helping us break through what she calls ''the reality trap.'' Le Guin writes not only of the pleasures of her own childhood reading, but also about what fantasy means for all of us living in the global twenty-first century."

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story

"From the celebrated Ursula K. Le Guin, 'a writer of enormous intelligence and wit, a master storyteller' (Boston Globe), the revised and updated edition of her classic guide to the essentials of a writer's craft. Completely revised and rewritten to address the challenges and opportunities of the modern era, this handbook is a short, deceptively simple guide to the craft of writing. Le Guin lays out ten chapters that address the most fundamental components of narrative, from the sound of language to sentence construction to point of view. Each chapter combines illustrative examples from the global canon with Le Guin’s own witty commentary and an exercise that the writer can do solo or in a group. She also offers a comprehensive guide to working in writing groups, both actual and online. Masterful and concise, Steering the Craft deserves a place on every writer's shelf."

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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Five Ways to Forgiveness

"A companion to Ursula K. Le Guin's award-winning Hainish novels—including The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed—Five Ways to Forgiveness tells the story of the planet Werel and its colony planet Yeowe, and how their societies are shaped by the legacies of slavery and revolution. When the enslaved people on the colony Yeowe (called 'assets') overthrow the slave-holding class (called 'owners'), the owners on neighboring Werel launch a war to preserve the master-slave society that undergirds the economy of both planets. Told from the perspectives of people caught in the crosshairs of the struggle, the stories in this collection are linked by the character 'Old Music,' an Ekumen ambassador who is secretly working as an abolitionist and supporter of Yeowe's emancipation. Together they ask: What does forgiveness look like in a world riddled by racism and caste? In 'Betrayals,' a disgraced revolutionary leader makes peace with his past. In the intersectional 'Forgiveness Day,' a female ambassador from the Ekumen struggles with the patriarchal culture of Werel, while 'A Man of the People' tells the life story of a male Ekumen ambassador to Yeowe. 'A Woman's Liberation' tells the story of a woman who, after escaping to freedom, must reckon with the internalized racism that still enchains her. And finally, the story 'Old Music and the Slave Women' braids the collection together and counts the cost of justice. First published in 1994 as Four Ways to Forgiveness, this is the first standalone edition that includes the fifth story, 'Old Music and the Slave Women,' that Le Guin wrote years after to augment this extraordinary, vital suite."

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Frankie Corzo, Michael Crouch (Narrator)

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The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

"Featuring a new introduction by Ken Liu, this revised edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s first full-length collection of essays covers her background as a writer and educator, her thoughts on writing, and her commentary on literary science fiction and fantasy and their future. “We like to think we live in daylight, but half the world is always dark; and fantasy, like poetry, speaks the language of the night.”—URSULA K. Le GUIN Le Guin’s sharp and witty voice is on full display in this collection of twenty-four essays, revised by the author a decade after its initial publication in 1979. The collection covers a wide range of topics and Le Guin’s origins as a writer, her advocacy for science fiction and fantasy as mediums for true literary exploration, the writing of her own major works such as A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness, and her role as a public intellectual and educator. The book and each thematic section are brilliantly introduced and contextualized by Susan Wood, a professor at the University of British Columbia and a literary editor and feminist activist during the 1960s and ’70s. A fascinating, intimate look into the exceptional mind of Le Guin, whose insights remain as relevant and resonant today as when they were first published."

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Alyssa Bresnahan, Michael Crouch (Narrator)

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The Left Hand of Darkness

"The queen of science fiction’s trailblazing novel about a planet full of genderless beings A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary’s mission to Winter, an unknown alien world whose inhabitants can choose—and change—their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter’s inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters. Exploring questions of psychology, society, and human emotion in an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of science fiction."

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Alyssa Bresnahan, Michael Crouch (Narrator)

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The Word for World is Forest

"When the inhabitants of a peaceful world are conquered by the bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably altered. Forced into servitude, the Athsheans find themselves at the mercy of their brutal masters. Desperation causes the Athsheans, led by Selver, to retaliate against their captors, abandoning their strictures against violence. But in defending their lives, they have endangered the very foundations of their society. For every blow against the invaders is a blow to the humanity of the Athsheans. And once the killing starts, there is no turning back. 'Le Guin writes with painstaking intelligence. Her characters are complex and haunting, and her writing is remarkable for its sinewy grace.'—TIME magazine"

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), John Skelley (Narrator)

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Diverse Energies

"“No one can doubt that the wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed, but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men. No one can doubt that cooperation in the pursuit of knowledge must lead to freedom of the mind and freedom of the soul.” —President John F. Kennedy, from a speech at University of California, March 23, 1962 In a world gone wrong, heroes and villains are not always easy to distinguish and every individual has the ability to contribute something powerful. In this stunning collection of original and rediscovered stories of tragedy and hope, the stars are a diverse group of students, street kids, good girls, kidnappers, and child laborers pitted against their environments, their governments, differing cultures, and sometimes one another as they seek answers in their dystopian worlds. Take a journey through time from a nuclear nightmare of the past to society’s far future beyond Earth with these eleven stories by masters of speculative fiction."

Cindy Pon, Daniel H. Wilson, Ph.D., Ellen Oh, Greg Van Eekhout, K. Tempest Bradford, Ken Liu, Malinda Lo, Paolo Bacigalupi, Rahul Kanakia, Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Catherine Ho, James Chen, Jasmin Walker, Kurt Kanazawa, Neil Shah, Nick Walther, Shaun Taylor-Corbett (Narrator)

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Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places

"From modern literature to menopause, from utopian thought to rodeos—in this classic collection of essays, Ursula K. Le Guin roves with her customary audacity over the intersecting arenas of literature, feminism, and social responsibility, exploding any received notions she comes across and revealing visionary possibilities in their stead. Le Guin is an authentic, wise woman, remembering, performing, and passing on the ancient ceremony of celebration, dancing “the dance of renewal, the dance that made the world”—and in this collection, she does so with wit and eloquence that make for exhilarating listening."

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Gabrielle De Cuir (Narrator)

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The Birthday of the World: And Other Stories

"The recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the National Book Award, the Kafka Award, five Hugo Awards and five Nebula Awards, the renowned writer Ursula K. Le Guin has, in each story and novel, created a provocative, ever-evolving universe filled with diverse worlds and rich characters reminiscent of our earthly selves. Now, in The Birthday of the World, this gifted artist returns to these worlds in eight brilliant short works, including a never-before-published novella, each of which probes the essence of humanity."

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Christina Moore (Narrator)

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The Eye of the Heron

"From multi-award-winning, literary legend Ursula K. Le Guin comes a speculative fiction classic, The Eye of the Heron. In Victoria on a former prison colony, two exiled groups?the farmers of Shantih and the City dwellers?live in apparent harmony. All is not as it seems, however. While the peace-loving farmers labor endlessly to provide food for the City, the City Bosses rule the Shantih with an iron fist. When a group of farmers decide to form a new settlement further away, the Bosses retaliate by threatening to crush the 'rebellion.' Luz understands what it means to have no choices. Her father is a Boss and he has ruled over her life with the same iron fist. Luz wonders what it might be like to make her own choices. To be free to choose her own destiny."

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Christina Moore (Narrator)

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The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination

"Join Ursula K. Le Guin as she explores a broad array of subjects, ranging from Tolstoy, Twain, and Tolkien to women’s shoes, beauty, and family life. With her customary wit, intelligence, and literary craftsmanship, she offers a diverse and highly engaging set of readings. The Wave in the Mind includes some of Le Guin’s finest literary criticism, rare autobiographical writings, performance art pieces, and, most centrally, her reflections on the arts of writing and reading. 'What a pleasure it is to roam around in Le Guin's spacious, playful mind. And what a joy to read her taut, elegant prose.'—Erica Jong"

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Christina Moore (Narrator)

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The Beginning Place

"Tembreabrezi is like Eden-a beginning place. There, Hugh and Irena assume they have merely discovered an escape from the dull monotony, even the terrors of their regular lives. But Tembreabrezi has a secret, a dark fear that is threatening the very life-blood of the kingdom. Hugh and Irena were led there for a purpose, selected for an impossibly hopeless mission. If they accept the challenge, they may lose everything, their new-found paradise, possibly their lives."

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Rob Inglis (Narrator)

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