Writer Ursula K. Le Guin, whose work spanned multiple genres and categories including science fiction, fantasy, poetry and essays, died on Monday (Jan. 22) at the age of 88, the New York Times reports.
The exact cause of death has not been announced, but Le Guin’s son told the Times that his mother had been in poor health for months.
Over a career that spanned more than five decades, Le Guin authored “seven books of poetry, twenty-two novels, over a hundred short stories (collected in eleven volumes), four collections of essays, twelve books for children, and four volumes of translation,” according to her website. She is particularly well-known for her series of young adult fantasy books that take place in the world of Earthsea, as well as her science-fiction novel “The Left Hand of Darkness” (Ace Books, 1969), about the meeting of interplanetary cultures.
Other prominent authors including Salman Rushdie, David Mitchell, Neil Gaiman and Iain Banks have cited her as an influence on their work, according to the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA). Ann Leckie, author of “Ancillary Justice” (Orbit Books, 2013), told Space.com in 2013 that Le Guin influenced her writing as well.
She will be sorely missed.
By Calla Cofield – Full Story at Live Science