The home of American novelist Ursula K. Le Guin is to become a writers residency. Her son, Theo Downes-Le Guin, plans to provide contemporary authors access to the place she lived and worked. Residents will be selected by a council of "literary professionals" and a Le Guin family member.
Literary Arts, a community nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon, announced Monday that Le Guin's family had donated their three-story house for what will become the Ursula K. Le Guin Writers Residency.
Le Guin, who died in 2018 at age 88, was a Berkeley, California, native who in her early 30s moved to Portland with her husband, Charles. Le Guin wrote such classics as "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed" in her home, mostly in a corner space that evolved from a nursery for her three children to a writing studio.
It's been planned for many years, thoug no date has been set. A renovation of the dwelling is underway and there's a crowdfunding campaign to cover expenses.
"Our conversations with Ursula and her family began in 2017," the executive director of Literary Arts, Andrew Proctor, said in a statement. "She had a clear vision for her home to become a creative space for writers and a beacon for the broader literary community."
Writers "will be asked to engage with the local community in a variety of literary activities, such as community-wide readings and workshops."
"We don't want it just to be for authors who already have had residencies elsewhere," he says. "But we'll want applicants to demonstrate that they're seriously engaged in the work. We want people who will make the most of this."
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