Audiobooks by Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin’s groundbreaking work of science fiction—winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards. A lone human ambassador is sent to the icebound planet of Winter, a world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants’ gender is fluid. 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 strange, intriguing culture he encounters... Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), 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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Earthsea: Series 2: A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

The second series of BBC Radio 4 Extra's magical retelling of Ursula Le Guin's 'Earthsea' cycle, taking in the novels Tehanu and The Other Wind and the short story 'Dragonfly' Ged and Tenar first met in their youth, when he was a powerful wizard and she a high priestess. Together, they escaped the Tombs of Atuan and brought peace to the troubled archipelago of Earthsea. Years later, their paths have diverged. Ged - once Archmage of Roke and the greatest wizard on all of Earthsea - has sacrificed his magical powers to defeat a great evil. Meanwhile, Tenar, now widowed and with grown-up children, runs a farm on the isle of Gont, where Ged was born. When Tenar saves a remarkable young girl from certain death, she adopts her and names her Therru. Soon after, she is reunited with Ged when he returns to the island of his birth on the back of a dragon. Pursued by enemies and facing great danger, Tenar, Ged and Therru are caught up in an epic adventure involving dragons, wizards, royalty and the ultimate fate of Earthsea itself... Ursula Le Guin's 'Earthsea' books have sold millions of copies and been translated into sixteen languages, and this evocative dramatisation of Tehanu, The Other Wind and 'Dragonfly' will immerse you in a wonderful fantasy world rich in magic and myth. Among the cast are Nina Wadia and Robert Glenister.

Ursula K. Le Guin, Ursula Le Guin (Author), , Nina Wadia, Robert Glenister (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.

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

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Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books, 2000-2016, with a Journal of a Writer's Week

Words Are My Matter gathers talks, essays, introductions to beloved books, and book reviews by Ursula K. Le Guin, one of our foremost public literary intellectuals. A must-listen collection, Words Are My Matter is a manual for investigating the depth and breadth of contemporary fiction-and, through the lens of deep considerations of contemporary writing, a way of exploring the world we are all living in. "We need writers who know the difference between production of a market commodity and the practice of an art. Developing written material to suit sales strategies in order to maximize corporate profit and advertising revenue is not the same thing as responsible book publishing or authorship." * Le Guin is one of those authors, and this is another of her moments. She has published more than sixty books ranging from fiction to nonfiction, children's books to poetry, and has received many lifetime achievement awards, including the Library of Congress Living Legends award. * From "Freedom," a speech in acceptance of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)

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No Time to Spare

From acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin, and with an introduction by Karen Joy Fowler, a collection of thoughts-always adroit, often acerbic-on aging, belief, the state of literature, and the state of the nation. Ursula K. Le Guin has taken readers to imaginary worlds for decades. Now she's in the last great frontier of life, old age, and exploring new literary territory: the blog, a forum where her voice-sharp, witty, as compassionate as it is critical-shines. No Time to Spare collects the best of Ursula's blog, presenting perfectly crystallized dispatches on what matters to her now, her concerns with this world, and her wonder at it. On the absurdity of denying your age, she says, "If I'm ninety and believe I'm forty-five, I'm headed for a very bad time trying to get out of the bathtub." On cultural perceptions of fantasy: "The direction of escape is toward freedom. So what is 'escapism' an accusation of?" On her new cat: "He still won't sit on a lap.I don't know if he ever will. He just doesn't accept the lap hypothesis." On breakfast: "Eating an egg from the shell takes not only practice, but resolution, even courage, possibly willingness to commit crime." And on all that is unknown, all that we discover as we muddle through life: "How rich we are in knowledge, and in all that lies around us yet to learn. Billionaires, all of us."

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Barbara Caruso (Narrator)

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The Other Wind

The sorcerer Alder fears sleep. The dead are pulling him to them at night. Through him they may free themselves and invade Earthsea. Alder seeks advice from Ged, once Archmage. Ged tells him to go to Tenar, Tehanu, and the young king at Havnor. They are joined by amber-eyed Irian, a fierce dragon able to assume the shape of a woman. The threat can be confronted only in the Immanent Grove on Roke, the holiest place in the world and there the king, hero, sage, wizard, and dragon make a last stand. In this final book of the Earthsea Cycle, Le Guin combines her magical fantasy with a profoundly human, earthly, humble touch.

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Samuel Roukin (Narrator)

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The Left Hand of Darkness

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can 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. Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), George Guidall (Narrator)

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