Ursula LeGuin was born on October 21 in Berkeley, California to writer Theodora Kroeber and anthropologist Alfred Kroeber. She went to Radcliffe College and did graduate work at Columbia University. Ursula LeGuin writes both poetry and prose, and in various modes including realistic fiction, science fiction, fantasy, young children's books, books for young adults, screenplays, essays, verbal texts for musicians, and voicetext for performance or recording. She has published five books of poetry, seventeen novels, over a hundred short stories, two collections of essays, eleven books for children, and two volumes of translation. Her best known fantasy works, the first four Books of Earthsea, have sold millions of copies in America and England, and have been translated into sixteen languages. Her Catwings series has also become a particular favorite. She teaches an annual workshop, Flight of the Mind, which provided the impetus for a recent book on writing narrative, Steering the Craft. Other recent titles include The Birthday of the World, Tom Mouse, and The Other Wind (a World Fantasy Award nominee). LeGuin has three children and three grandchildren and resides in Portland, Oregon.
