The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas

“Ursula Le Guin is more than just a writer of adult fantasy and science fiction . . . she is a philosopher; an explorer in the landscapes of the mind.” – Cincinnati Enquirer The recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the National Book Award, the Kafka Award, and the Pushcart Prize, Ursula K. Le Guin is renowned for her spare, elegant prose, rich characterization, and diverse worlds. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” is one of her best-known short stories. “Like much of Borges or Kafka, ‘Omelas’ seems, somehow, to fit something vast into a small space where we, as with Borges’ Aleph, suddenly get to see everything at once. Here is a big piece of the world in a grain of sand—and we must choose whether we, too, would really walk away, whether we can choose to believe in utopias built on someone else’s suffering, as all human utopias perhaps are—and whether, if we would walk away, any true utopia can ever exist at all.” —Gabrielle Bellot, Tor.com