In addition to writing seminal novels, Ursula K. Le Guin also maintained a blog from 2010 to 2017. About a third of her posts there were made into the book, No Time to Spare, and starting this year, each post will also get its own episode on the podcast, In Your Spare Time: From the Blog of Ursula K. Le Guin.
Almost every episode/post is read by a different person, and readers include authors, librarians, artists, critics, editors, and friends of Le Guin’s. After reading her post, the reader then shares their relationship to her work and how the specific post speaks to our time and/or their imagination. Some of the readers are David Mitchell, adrienne maree brown, Omar El Akkad, Emily Wilson, Rick Riordan, Luis Alberto Urrea, Robin Hobb, John Darnielle, Darcie Little Badger, Molly Gloss, Vajra Chandrasekera, Becky Chambers, and Karen Joy Fowler.
“Over the years, many readers have told me they wish they could hear Ursula’s blog posts read by her. I do too, but for me, this is the next best thing—to hear so many fascinating people, connected to my mother in many different ways, bringing the blog into current conversation,” Theo Downes-Le Guin, Le Guin’s son, literary executor, and podcast co-producer, said in a statement.
The first episode of In Your Spare Time will come out on April 8, 2026, with new episodes releasing weekly on Wednesdays well into 2028 (an audio trailer is already up, if you want to listen). The podcast was co-produced by Downes-Le Guin, Molly Templeton, and Richard Stuart Perkins.
Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Libsyn. You can also listen to the podcast’s trailer below.
