The Word for World Is Forest [Guin, Ursula K. Le]

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

The award-winning masterpiece by one of today's most honored writers, Ursula K. Le Guin!

Now with a new introduction by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Stephen Graham Jones.

When the inhabitants of a peaceful world are conquered by the bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably altered. Forced into servitude, the Athsheans find themselves at the mercy of their brutal masters.

Desperation causes the Athsheans, led by Selver, to retaliate against their captors, abandoning their strictures against violence. But in defending their lives, they have endangered the very foundations of their society. For every blow against the invaders is a blow to the humanity of the Athsheans. And once the killing starts, there is no turning back.

Publisher: Macmillan Publishers (MPS)
Published: 11/17/2026
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781250343680

About the Author

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was the author of more than three dozen books for children and adults, including her groundbreaking novels The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, both honored with Nebula and Hugo awards for best novel. She was also awarded a Newbury Honor for the second volume of the Earthsea Cycle, The Tombs of Atuan, and among her many other distinctions are the Margaret A. Edwards Award, a National Book Award, and additional Nebula and Hugo awards. Her other books include The Eye of the Heron, The Word for World is Forest, and the Hainish series. In 2014, Le Guin was named the Medalist for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation.

Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-five or so novels and collections, and there's some novellas and comic books in there as well. Most recent are Earthdivers, I Was a Teenage Slasher, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, and Killer on the Road. Stephen lives and teaches in Boulder, Colorado.