Oregon Movies, A to Z

Ursula LeGuin was born in Berkeley, California in 1929, began writing short stories in 1940, and arrived in Portland in 1958. I first heard about Ursula LeGuin when my mother – fascinated, horrified and no doubt envious – passed on the gossip that Ursula smoked a pipe, and her husband did needlework. Pipe or no, Leguin was able to combine motherhood with supreme productivity. In addition to her three children and four grandchildren, she has 5 Hugo awards, 6 Nebula awards, and  the 1973 National Book Award for Children’s Books.

A wonderful recent interview with Ursula reveals:

I wrote a screenplay of the first two books of Earthsea with Michael Powell, who did Peeping Tom and Black Narcissus, in the 70s. Francis Ford Coppola was backing Michael then, and we tried hard to sell the screenplay, but the big studios were scared of Michael, either because he was old or because he had a reputation for shocking audiences. And none of them at that point had the dimmest idea of what fantasy is or how to film it. They treated us like we were lice.

Fearless Ursula, able to stare down the studio system. You can meet her this February at the cozy, scenic, conversation oriented Fishtrap Winter Gathering where she is one of three presenters on the theme of Learning From Women.

Winter Gathering 2010’s scholarship application deadline is Nov. 15.