Inspiration
In 1967, Herman Schein (the publisher of Parnassus Press and the husband of Ruth Robbins, the illustrator of the book) asked Le Guin to try writing a book "for older kids", giving her complete freedom for the subject and the approach.
Le Guin has said that the book was in part a response to the image of wizards as ancient and wise, and to her wondering where they come from. Her short stories, "The Rule of Names" (1964) and "The Word of Unbinding" (1964), established some of the groundwork for the original Earthsea trilogy.
Further inspiration came from the work of her parents, anthropologists Alfred L. Kroeber and Theodora Kroeber: see Ishi.
Read more about this topic: A Wizard Of Earthsea
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