Ursula K. Le Guin was born in Berkeley, California, in 1929, daughter of the writer Theodora Kroeber and the anthropologist Alfred Kroeber.

Her published work includes twenty-one novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, seven volumes of poetry and four of translation.

Among her best-known novels are The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, Always Coming Home and Lavinia.

She held five Hugo and six Nebula Awards, the last for Powers in 2009, and the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Ursula K. Le Guin's most famous work of fantasy is the Earthsea series. The books have been translated into many languages around the world. She died in January 2018, aged 88.