The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin

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 how they are represented and imagined. 

Contributors: 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.

Editors
So Mayer
Sarah Shin 

Contributors
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

Publisher
Spiral House
Silver Press
AA Publications

Publication Date
2025

Binding
Softcover, perfect-bound

ISBN
978-1-0685918-1-5