International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award 2002

Sutty, an Observer for the interstellar Ekumen, has been assigned to Aka, a world in the grip of a materialistic government. The monolithic Corporation State of Aka has outlawed all old customs and beliefs. Sutty herself, an Earthwoman, has fled from a similar monolithic state, but one controlled by religious fundamentalists. Unexpectedly she receives permission to leave the modern city where her movements were closely monitored. She travels up the river into the countryside, going from howling loudspeakers to bleating cattle, to seek the remnants of the banned culture of Aka. As she comes to know and love the people she lives with, she begins to learn their unique religion, The Telling. Finally joining them on a trek into the high mountains to one of the last sacred places, she glimpses hope for the reconciliation of the warring ideologies that have filled their lives, and her own, with grief. The Telling is a reflection on the conflict of politics and religion in our modern world, and the story of a spiritual journey through a landscape that is at once very strange and very familiar.

The Telling	Nominated ISBN: 0151005672	Find out more about the author on the following websites: *Salon* article on Ursula Le Guin Read an excerpt from The Telling
by
Ursula Le Guin

Nominated by:
Chicago Public Library, Chicago, U.S.A

Books nominated for the 2002 Award
Book Information	Click here for the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors