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What does our #Writing bring us?

Ursula K Le Guin is one of my much-loved authors. 

I loved the Left Hand of Darkness when I first read it more than a decade ago, and I adore her Earthsea series.

Last week, I saw her acceptance speech for her National Award, and it made me tear up just a little bit, especially the last part:

Books aren’t just commodities; the profit motive is often in
conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism, its power seems
inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human
power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change
often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.


I’ve had a long career as a writer, and a good one, in good company.
Here at the end of it, I don’t want to watch American literature get
sold down the river. We who live by writing and publishing want and
should demand our fair share of the proceeds; but the name of our
beautiful reward isn’t profit. Its name is freedom.

Read anything by Ursula Le Guin? Do you agree with what she says?

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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