Check out this six minute video of Ursula LeGuin’s acceptance speech for a lifetime achievement award at the National Book Awards ceremony, where she gave an impassioned defense of science fiction — and of writers in general.
A sampling: “I rejoice in accepting it and sharing it with all those who were excluded from literature for so long, my fellow writers of fantasy and science fiction, writers of the imagination,who for the last fifty years watched the beautiful awards go to the so-called realists. I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now and can see through our fear-stricken societies and even imagine some real grounds for hope…the realists of a larger reality.”
She also had some choice words about the current state of the publishing industry. Worth a listen.
While writing The Children of Darkness, I was confronted with a dilemma. The Temple of Light had labored for a thousand years to rewrite history to suit their needs and eradicate all signs of the past. How then were the Seekers to discover the lost truth?
Yes, thanks to the keepers, they were able to figure out the
especially since most of my novels involve alternate worlds and unusual cultures. The short answer: I don’t have a clue. Ideas come to me rather than me seeking them out. They arrive at odd times, usually when I’m least rational. They appear out of thin air during
