Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was an American science fiction novelist, short story writer, poet, activist, and essayist, active from the early 1960s up until her death earlier this year in 2018. In 2016, The New York Times described her as “America’s greatest living science fiction writer”, and in her lifetime she went on to win the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and the World Fantasy Award, some of which she would earn on more than one occasion. Her futuristic, alien, and imaginary worlds have captivated readers for over a half of a century, addressing concepts quite progressive for her time, such as religion, gender, sexuality, the natural world, and politics. In total, her books have been translated into well over forty languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. But who was this incredible woman beneath the surface? Well, Ursula was her father’s daughter, and he instilled in her a love of alternative thought coupled with a scientific bent. She resided for the majority of her life in Portland, and it should be noted that Ursula loved Oregon…from the high desert of Steen’s Mountain to the ocean shores of Cannon Beach, and like so many others including myself, she thought herself lucky to be able to live in such a beautiful place. There was also her favorite happy hour of bourbon and ice, her hard stance against Google and Amazon for their digitization and devaluing of books, and her happy home life with her husband Charles and their three children. I could keep going on and on and on, but I really want Ursula to do the talking herself, so let’s get rolling with episode 10 of Legacy as we cover the life of writer Ursula K. Le Guin, one of the greatest minds of the later 20th century, and a personal hero of yours truly.