A stamp honoring visionary author Ursula K. Le Guin, the 33rd in the Postal Service’s Literary Arts series, will be released July 27.
Le Guin wrote prolifically in several genres but was best known for such richly imagined science fiction as “The Left Hand of Darkness” and “The Lathe of Heaven.”
She was a success in a genre overwhelmingly dominated by men, elevating fantasy into “high literature,” in the words of literary critic Harold Bloom.
In 2000, she was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress. Le Guin died in 2018.
The 95-cent stamp depicts a scene from “The Left Hand of Darkness” on which the author’s portrait, based on a 2006 photograph, is superimposed. Donato Giancola was the artist and Antonio Alcalá was art director.
The stamps are for use on 3-ounce letters and will always be valid for that weight. They can be purchased at Post Offices and usps.com.
