The Tombs of Atuan is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the Winter 1970 issue of Worlds of Fantasy, and published as a book by Atheneum Books in 1971. It is the second book in the Earthsea series after A Wizard of Earthsea (1969). The Tombs of Atuan was a Newbery Honor Book in 1972.
First edition cover (hardcover, second state, with the Newbery Honor)
Le Guin giving a reading in 2008
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the Earthsea fantasy series. Her work was first published in 1959, and her literary career spanned nearly sixty years, producing more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories, in addition to poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books. Frequently described as an author of science fiction, Le Guin has also been called a "major voice in American Letters". Le Guin said she would prefer to be known as an "American novelist".
Le Guin in 1995
Ursula's father, Alfred Kroeber, with Ishi, the last of the Yahi people (1911)
Le Guin with Harlan Ellison at Westercon in Portland, Oregon (1984)
Le Guin at a reading in Danville, California (June 2008)