Before Hogwarts

The Guardian has a new profile of Ursula Le Guin, the author of science fiction classics such as The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness. Among her other works is the Earthsea Series, stories set in a school for wizards. The first book came out several years before Harry Potter conquered the world.

On the similarities between Potter and Earthsea, Le Guin says this:

I didn't feel [J.K. Rowling] ripped me off, as some people did . . . though she could have been more gracious about her predecessors. My incredulity was at the critics who found the first book wonderfully original. She has many virtues, but originality isn't one of them. That hurt.