E  Listen

OMELAS

an interactive reading of Ursula K. Le Guin's
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1973)

The Festival of Summer has come to the city by the sea. You are a visitor — or perhaps the narrator's reader, walking inside the story itself. Six voices of the narrator drift through the city as points of golden light. Find them. Listen. Answer honestly. The story will ask something of you before you leave.

W A S D moveMouse lookShift run Space jumpE listen / interactM mute
Your name (appears on your reflection report) Before you enter — a prediction (optional)

The narrator will suggest that every utopia carries a price tag. What do you predict it costs to build a “perfect” city? You'll compare notes with yourself at the end.


Reading note: this experience includes the story's depiction of a suffering child, rendered abstractly and without graphic detail. Best played with headphones, in fullscreen, on a laptop or desktop.