Ursula K. Le Guin was born Ursula Kroeber in 1929 in Berkeley, California. Her father was the eminent anthropologist Alfred Kroeber (1897–1960), whose extensive and pioneering work on Native American tribes helped establish one of the leading US anthropology departments at the University of California at Berkley. Her mother, Theodora Kracaw Kroeber Quinn (1897–1979), was a writer and scholar in her own right, known for the best selling Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America (1961). As a child, Le Guin read avidly, especially in myth and science-fiction, the latter possibly an influence of her older brothers’ interests. She started writing very young, submitting her first story for …

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Citation: Fimi, Dimitra. "Ursula Le Guin". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 November 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5219, accessed 07 October 2024.]

5219 Ursula Le Guin 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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