Le Guin Home to Host Writers Residency
Portland OR non-profit Literary Arts has announced that the home of late SF Grandmaster Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) will become the site of the Ursula K. Le Guin Writers Residency, in accordance with Le Guin’s wishes.
The Le Guin family donated the home in Northwest Portland to the organization. Le Guin wrote many of her most famous works in the second-floor writing studio of the house, which she and her husband purchased in the early 1960s. Literary Arts is raising funds for house renovations and to provide an endowment, amother other plans.
Executive director Andrew Proctor said,
Our conversations with Ursula and her family began in 2017. She had a clear vision for her home to become a creative space for writers and a beacon for the broader literary community. With the launch of the public phase of our Campaign for Literary Arts this month, we are closer than ever to making this dream a reality. This campaign will allow us to raise funds to launch the Ursula K. Le Guin Writers Residency and plan for its future. The Le Guin family had many partners to choose from and we are honored that they are entrusting Literary Arts with this cherished cultural treasure.
Le Guin’s son and literary executor Theo Downes-Le Guin said,
We have always felt a strong connection to Literary Arts and its mission to support diverse voices and build an empathetic, empowered and inclusive community of writers. Although Ursula’s reputation is international, she focused much of her energy on the local community of writers, libraries and literary organizations. So it’s fitting that this residency, ambitious in the breadth of writers it will reach, will be rooted in the house and city she loved and lived in for more than a half century.
The residency, once established, will “welcome writers from around the world, with a focus on those residing in the western United States,” with writers “selected by an advisory council made up of literary professionals and a Le Guin family member.” Selected writers “will be asked to engage with the local community in a variety of literary activities, such as community-wide readings and workshops. The residency program is currently in the development phase, with plans for future renovations to the home for improved accessibility.”
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