Award-winning US science fiction and fantasy author Ursula K Le Guin has died, 89 , her family said.

Axar.az informs citing the BBC, the best-selling writer passed away on Monday at her home in Portland, Oregon, after a period of ill health.

Le Guin's books melded dragons and wizards with spaceships to tackle earth-bound problems of race, gender and class.

She was best known for the Earthsea series, written for young adults, and her 1969 sci-fi classic The Left Hand of Darkness, set on a planet called Gethen, where everyone is ambisexual.

She wrote more than 20 novels and over 100 short stories that sold millions of copies around the world.