Ursula K. Le Guin
Earlier this month the Nation Book Foundation awarded Ursula K. Le Guin the 2014 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. According to nationalbook.org, “for more than forty years, Le Guin has defied conventions of narrative, language, character, and genre, as well as transcended the boundaries between fantasy and realism, to forge new paths for literary fiction.”
During her acceptance speech at the awards ceremony, Le Guin used her allotted 3-5 minutes to champion and encourage artistic freedom and the power of literature- “Books aren’t just commodities; the profit motive is often in conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.”
We have a few of Ursula Le Guin’s works in the library, come peruse them!
