'Le Guin was a true original, and she showed what is possible' Katherine Rundell Le Guin's vast imagination spanned vast distances. She was the author of countless essays, poems, stories and novels, much of it genre-expanding science fiction or fantasy. In this wide-ranging essay collection, first published in 2004 when she was in her seventies, the beloved, trailblazing author explores all the ways in which imagination interacts with life, giving us the subversive power to make art, change and hope. She brings her customary wisdom to subjects as eclectic and essential as feminism, ageing, hope, oppression, poetry, shoes, the sacredness of public libraries and the magic of real human conversation - with every piece as prescient, humorous and insightful as her thoughts on how to write it all down. 'She has the force of a philosopher, but the pacing and texture of a master storyteller' Zadie Smith.