According to the biographical note on Ursula K. Le Guin’s website, she has published twenty-one novels, eleven volumes of short stories, three collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc.

What the site doesn’t say is that today, she is celebrating her 80th birthday.  During those 80 years she has touched the lives of countless people, some who know the warm and fiercely intelligent person, and others who are readers and have met her only through her fiction. The impact of the person and her work has made a far deeper imprint than the ink on a page.

As part of an online celebration, we’re asking people to wish her a happy birthday. Please share, if you have a favorite memory of her or her fiction.  To start us off, here’s Robert Silverberg.

Dear Ursula:

45 years ago, when you were a mere wee girl, editor Cele Goldsmith of AMAZING STORIES introduced you to me at the 1964 Oakland Worldcon as one of her most promising new writers.   Cele didn’t exactly say what it was you were promising, but I’ve noticed that you’ve written a story or three over the succeeding years, and I’d say the promise has been kept.

Happy birthday, Ursula!  Live long and prosper!

Robert Silverberg