Editing Ursula K. Le Guin (section)

=== Critical attention ===
Le Guin's next two books brought her sudden and widespread critical acclaim. ''[[A Wizard of Earthsea]]'', published in 1968, was a fantasy novel written initially for teenagers.{{sfn|White|1999|p=2}} Le Guin had not planned to write for young adults, but was asked to write a novel targeted at this group by the editor of Parnassus Press, who saw it as a market with great potential.{{sfn|White|1999|p=10}}{{sfn|Cadden|2005|p=xi}} A [[Bildungsroman|coming of age story]] set in the fictional archipelago of Earthsea, the book received a positive reception in both the U.S. and Britain.{{sfn|White|1999|p=10}}{{sfn|Cummins|1990|pp=8, 22}}

[[File:Ursula Le Guin Harlan Ellison.jpg|thumb|right|Le Guin with [[Harlan Ellison]] at [[Westercon]] in [[Portland, Oregon]] (1984)]]

Her next novel, ''[[The Left Hand of Darkness]]'', was a Hainish universe story exploring themes of gender and sexuality on a fictional planet where humans have no fixed sex.{{sfn|White|1999|pp=45–50}} The book was Le Guin's first to address feminist issues,{{sfn|Reid|1997|pp=51–56}} and according to scholar Donna White, it "stunned the science fiction critics"; it won both the [[Hugo Award for Best Novel|Hugo]] and the [[Nebula Award for Best Novel|Nebula Awards]] for best novel, making Le Guin the first woman to win these awards, and a number of other accolades.<ref name="Walton Obit">{{Cite journal |last=Walton |first=Jo |date=January 24, 2018 |title=Bright the Hawk's Flight on the Empty Sky: Ursula K. Le Guin |url=https://www.tor.com/2018/01/24/bright-the-hawks-flight-in-the-empty-sky-ursula-k-le-guin/ |journal=[[Tor.com]] |access-date=September 19, 2018 |archive-date=September 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919211136/https://www.tor.com/2018/01/24/bright-the-hawks-flight-in-the-empty-sky-ursula-k-le-guin/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|White|1999|pp=45–50, 54}} ''A Wizard of Earthsea'' and ''The Left Hand of Darkness'' have been described by critic [[Harold Bloom]] as Le Guin's masterpieces.{{sfn|White|1999|p=2}} She won the Hugo Award again in 1973 for ''[[The Word for World Is Forest]]''.<ref name="Salon Profile" /> The book was influenced by Le Guin's anger over the [[Vietnam War]], and explored themes of [[colonialism]] and [[militarism]]:{{sfn|Spivack|1984|pp=70–71}}{{sfn|Cummins|1990|pp=87–90}} Le Guin later described it as the "most overt political statement" she had made in a fictional work.<ref name="Salon Profile" />

Le Guin continued to develop themes of equilibrium and coming-of-age in the next two installments of the ''Earthsea'' series, ''[[The Tombs of Atuan]]'' and ''[[The Farthest Shore]]'', published in 1971 and 1972, respectively.{{sfn|Spivack|1984|pp=26–27}} Both books were praised for their writing, while the exploration of death as a theme in ''The Farthest Shore'' also drew praise.{{sfn|White|1999|pp=14–15}} Her 1974 novel ''[[The Dispossessed]]'' again won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards for best novel, making her the first person to win both awards for each of two books.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Conversations with Ursula K. Le Guin |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2008 |editor-last=Freedman |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Freedman (writer) |page=xxiii}}</ref> Also set in the Hainish universe, the story explored [[anarchism]] and [[utopia]]nism. Scholar Charlotte Spivack described it as representing a shift in Le Guin's science fiction towards discussing political ideas.{{sfn|Spivack|1984|pp=74–75}}{{sfn|White|1999|pp=46–47}} Several of her [[speculative fiction]] short stories from the period, including her first published story, were later anthologized in the 1975 collection ''[[The Wind's Twelve Quarters]]''.{{sfn|Spivack|1984|p=94}}{{sfn|Le Guin|1978|p=31}} The fiction of the period 1966 to 1974, which also included ''[[The Lathe of Heaven]]'', the Hugo Award-winning "[[The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas]]" and the Nebula Award-winning "[[The Day Before the Revolution]]",{{sfn|White|1999|pp=50, 54}} constitutes Le Guin's best-known body of work.{{sfn|Cummins|1990|p=4}}