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The U.S. Postal Service is bringing together two of the things Portlanders are most passionate about: Ursula K. Le Guin and the post office.
This year, USPS will release a stamp dedicated to the influential sci-fi novelist and Portlander. The agency announced the news today and released an image of the stamp, which features a portrait of Le Guin in front of a snowy scene from her 1969 classic, The Left Hand of Darkness.
The postal service has been releasing 3-ounce stamps dedicated to American authors every few years since 1973. But Le Guin is the first from the sci-fi realm to be featured in the series—let alone the first sci-fi author who wrote about nonbinary characters (the stamp even depicts Estraven, one of The Left Hand of Darkness's genderless characters).
Le Guin's name now tops a list of 32 other American literary luminaries, including James Baldwin, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, Mark Twain and Ralph Ellison.
In a press release, the post office explained that the agency chose Le Guin as the series's 33rd author since she "expanded the scope of literature through novels and short stories that increased critical and popular appreciation of science fiction and fantasy."
Needless to say, the late author's estate is pretty stoked:
We are delighted to announce that the 33rd stamp in the US Postal Service Literary Arts series honors Ursula. Stamp release will be later this year, date TBD. From then on, all our letters will be three ounces! Thank you @USPS for this distinction. https://t.co/jGboi8i5LU pic.twitter.com/8H3UOGafPv
— Ursula K. Le Guin (@ursulakleguin) January 15, 2021
When released, the stamp will be available nationwide for 3-ounce envelopes. You can keep an eye out for its release date here.