Ursula K. Le Guin Accepts the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters

Readers of this blog should need no introduction to Ursula K. Le Guin. Nor should they need us to tell them how important she is to modern literature – both within genre and without. They certainly shouldn’t need us to tell them that she has won a staggering five Hugos, six Nebulas, two World Fantasy Awards, three James Tiptree Jr Memorial Awards, a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and more Locus Awards than you could count even if you took your shoes and socks off.

So, given that she needs no introduction, let us simply show you the marvellous, passionate and heartfelt acceptance speech, Ursula K. Le Guin recently gave upon receiving the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters:

 

 

It is, we’re sure you’ll agree, a wonderful speech – as one would expect from the first author ever to win both Hugo and Nebula awards for the same novel on two separate occasions. Not that you need us to tell you that.