Who said “The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader,…”?

Verified

Ursula K. Le Guin. A published source records them saying or writing it.

Source"Where Do You Get Your Ideas From?" (1987)

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Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: "Where Do You Get Your Ideas From?" (1987).

APA

Guin, U. K. L. (n.d.). The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/8599-the-unread-story-is-not-a-story-it/

MLA

Guin, Ursula K. Le. “The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/8599-the-unread-story-is-not-a-story-it/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Guin, Ursula K. Le. “The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/8599-the-unread-story-is-not-a-story-it/.

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“My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives me all the world and exiles me from it.”
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“We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains.”
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“In so far as one denies what is, one is possessed by what is not, the compulsions, the fantasies, the terrors that flock to fill the void.”
VerifiedThe Lathe of Heaven (1971), Chapter 10 (Orr) · evidenceDetails & citeRejection
All 26 Ursula K. Le Guin quotes →