"I'm not a curmudgeon, I'm just a scientist's daughter."
December 2, 2017 3:34 AM   Subscribe

 
Are you getting weary of being honored and lionized?
Always remember, you’re talking to a woman. And for a woman, any literary award, honors, notice of any sort has been an uphill climb. And if she insists upon flouting convention and writing SF and fantasy and indescribable stuff, it’s even harder.

And now?
I don’t think the rewards have been overdone. I think I’ve earned them. They are welcome and useful to me because they shore up my self-esteem, which wobbles as you get old and can’t do what you used to do.


i love her and her writing and her voice so so much
posted by kokaku at 4:19 AM on December 2, 2017 [26 favorites]


So many thanks for this.
posted by runcifex at 5:32 AM on December 2, 2017


I needed this today. Thanks.
posted by allthinky at 5:37 AM on December 2, 2017


She is great.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:03 AM on December 2, 2017


She's been such a wayfinder for so many of us. Well deserved.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 7:19 AM on December 2, 2017


The Word for the World is... stories.
posted by loquacious at 7:40 AM on December 2, 2017


Ursula K. Le Guin is a national world solar system Galactic Arm Treasure!
posted by sammyo at 7:49 AM on December 2, 2017 [10 favorites]


There’s a tendency in American culture to leave the imagination to kids — they’ll grow out of it and grow up to be good businessmen or politicians.
posted by bonehead at 8:43 AM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


Thank you for posting this.

Creatures live longer if they can do things in different ways.

I may adopt this as my new motto for living.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 9:16 AM on December 2, 2017 [7 favorites]


After a childhood and young adulthood reading mostly science fiction, I ended up feeling that Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip K. Dick were the apotheosis of the genre, and that's pretty much where I've been ever since. I'm so glad that one of them is still with us.
posted by rory at 12:17 PM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


rory, you really need to read Jemisin.
posted by suelac at 2:18 PM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


Thank you.
posted by hank at 4:54 PM on December 2, 2017


A quick yet substantial (managing to be simultaneously snappy and pithy, no mean trick) check in with Ursula K. Le Guin was just what the doctor ordered today. Her wit and intelligence, her justly earned humanism have honestly been things that helped me keep going for most of my adolescence and all of my adult life. Thanks for posting.
posted by nanojath at 9:51 PM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


Thanks for the tip, suelac, I'll check her work out. I notice her Hugo winner is second in a series - would you start there or elsewhere?
posted by rory at 7:23 AM on December 3, 2017


Start with that series, ie Broken Earth (at #1 in the series rather than #2... the books are excellent but definitely not standalone)
posted by AW74 at 9:10 AM on December 3, 2017


As it happens, both books 1 and 2 of Broken Earth won the Hugo for Best Novel, so you still start with a Hugo-winner.
posted by tavella at 9:21 AM on December 3, 2017


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