logo
episode-header-image
May 2021
9m 4s

Ursula Le Guin

Bbc World Service
About this episode

The American writer, Ursula Le Guin, was one of the most influential authors of the second half of the 20th century, publishing 20 novels in genres from science fiction to young adult. Le Guin pioneered feminist science fiction with The Left Hand of Darkness and created the enduringly popular Earthsea series of fantasy novels. She died in 2018. Simon Watts introduces the memories of Ursula Le Guin, as recorded in the BBC archives.

PHOTO: Ursula Le Guin in the 1980s (BBC/Marion Wood Kolisch)

Up next
Today
The creation of the International Criminal Court
In 1998, at a conference organised by the United Nations, a blueprint was devised for what would be the world's first permanent International Criminal Court.Judge Phillipe Kirsch chaired the Rome conference that led to the formation of the court. He tells Gill Kearsley about the ... Show More
10m 23s
Aug 22
Geneva Conventions
In 1859, Swiss businessman Henry Dunant witnessed the Battle of Solferino, in Italy. He couldn’t believe the lack of aid for the wounded soldiers and came up with two ideas – a voluntary aid organisation and an international treaty to protect those injured in wartime. They went o ... Show More
10m 2s
Aug 21
The rise and fall of BlackBerry
In the early 2000s, BlackBerry was the phone that ruled the world. But within a decade, it collapsed, overtaken by the touch screen revolution.Sam Gruet speaks to former co-CEO Jim Balsillie about BlackBerry’s meteoric rise, its battle against Apple, and the moment he knew it was ... Show More
9m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2024
Women of Science Fiction: Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929 - 2018) was an American author who wrote works of speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. Her literary career spanned nearly 60 years and resulted in more than 20 novels, over 100 short stories, poetry, literary criticism, and childrens books.  ... Show More
7m 26s
Jan 2022
Colette
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the outstanding French writers of the twentieth century. The novels of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873 - 1954) always had women at their centre, from youth to mid-life to old age, and they were phenomenally popular, at first for their freshn ... Show More
51m 27s
Jan 2022
Colette
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the outstanding French writers of the twentieth century. The novels of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873 - 1954) always had women at their centre, from youth to mid-life to old age, and they were phenomenally popular, at first for their freshn ... Show More
51m 27s
Apr 2023
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood talks to John Wilson about the formative influences and experiences that shaped her writing. One of the world’s bestselling and critically acclaimed authors, Atwood has published over 60 books including novels, short stories, children’s fiction, non-fiction and po ... Show More
43m 42s
Jun 2020
#92 - QDM de Poche - Le livre "Dans la forêt" de Jean Hegland
Deux adolescentes dans une forêt, un journal intime et le reste du monde qui s’écroule. C’est la trame du premier roman de Jean England sorti en 1996, Dans la forêt. Dans cet univers post-apocalyptique, Nell et sa soeur, isolées dans leur maison au fond des bois, tentent d’échapp ... Show More
21m 45s
May 2024
Anne Enright
Irish novelist Anne Enright is the author of seven novels, including The Gathering, winner of the Booker Prize in 2007. Her 2012 novel The Forgotten Waltz won the Andre Carnegie Medal for Fiction and her novel The Green Road won The Irish Novel of the Year in 2015, the same year ... Show More
43m 20s
Apr 2015
Fanny Burney
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the 18th-century novelist, playwright and diarist Fanny Burney, also known as Madame D'Arblay and Frances Burney. Her first novel, Evelina, was published anonymously and caused a sensation, attracting the admiration of many ... Show More
44m 25s
Jan 2022
Deborah Levy, writer
Deborah Levy is a writer whose novels Swimming Home and Hot Milk were both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Last year she published the final instalment of her ‘living autobiography’ trilogy of memoirs, and her earlier work includes plays for the RSC as well as short story colle ... Show More
37m 46s
Nov 2023
Germinal
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emile Zola's greatest literary success, his thirteenth novel in a series exploring the extended Rougon-Macquart family. The relative here is Etienne Lantier, already known to Zola’s readers as one of the blighted branch of the family tree and his s ... Show More
51m 39s