The Word for World
The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin
Published on 21. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-1-0685918-1-5 (ISBN)
Description
When Ursula K. Le Guin started writing a new story, she would begin by drawing a map. The Word for World presents a selection of these images by the celebrated author, many of which have never been published before, to consider how her imaginary worlds enable us to re-envision our own.
Le Guin's maps offer journeys of consciousness beyond conventional cartography, from the Rorschach-like archipelagos of Earthsea to the talismanic maps of Always Coming Home. Rather than remaining within known terrain, they open up paradigms of knowledge, exemplified by the map's edges and how a map is read, made and re-made, together. The Word for World brings her maps together with poems, stories, interviews, recipes and essays by contributors from a variety of perspectives to enquire into the relationship between worlds and the imagination and representation of them.
With contributions by Federico Campagna, Theo Downes-Le Guin, Daniel Heath Justice, Bhanu Kapil, Canisia Lubrin, Una McCormack, David Naimon, Nisha Ramayya, Shoshone Collective, Standard Deviation, Marilyn Strathern.
Co-published by Spiral House and AA Publications to coincide with an exhibition of Ursula K. Le Guin's maps at the Architectural Association, London, opening on 10 October 2025.
Le Guin's maps offer journeys of consciousness beyond conventional cartography, from the Rorschach-like archipelagos of Earthsea to the talismanic maps of Always Coming Home. Rather than remaining within known terrain, they open up paradigms of knowledge, exemplified by the map's edges and how a map is read, made and re-made, together. The Word for World brings her maps together with poems, stories, interviews, recipes and essays by contributors from a variety of perspectives to enquire into the relationship between worlds and the imagination and representation of them.
With contributions by Federico Campagna, Theo Downes-Le Guin, Daniel Heath Justice, Bhanu Kapil, Canisia Lubrin, Una McCormack, David Naimon, Nisha Ramayya, Shoshone Collective, Standard Deviation, Marilyn Strathern.
Co-published by Spiral House and AA Publications to coincide with an exhibition of Ursula K. Le Guin's maps at the Architectural Association, London, opening on 10 October 2025.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 206 mm
Width: 142 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
260 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0685918-1-5 (9781068591815)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
**Ursula K. Le Guin **(1929-2018) was a celebrated author of twenty-one novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve children's books, six volumes of poetry and four of translation. The breadth and imagination of her work earned her six Nebulas, nine Hugos and SFWA's Grand Master, along with the PEN/ Malamud and many other awards. In 2014 she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.