Welcome to Octavia E. Butler Week! No, its not a national holiday or her birthday (which is in June). This is just an opportunity for me to talk about the work of an author who is quickly becoming one of my favorites. As an avid sci-fi reader my whole life, I had heard marvelous things about Butler's work for years. But it wasn't until this time last year that I finally got around to reading one of her novels, Parable of the Sower (link goes to my review). Sower blew me away - it was so good and the dystopia so spot on. It took me a while, though, to work up the courage to read more though. Spot-on dystopia is a scary thing. I finally dove in, though, so this week I'll have reviews of other Butler books. I'd love to be able to start a discussion of Butler's work and maybe about who she was and why her career was so important. In addition to being one of the few prominent African-American women writing science fiction, she was the first sci-fi writer to receive the prestigious McArthur Genius Grant. Ms. Butler died unexpectedly in 2006.For a little more information about Octavia Butler, you can see her author page at SFWA, her Wikipedia entry or visit OctaviaButler.net, a fan site.
Photo of Octavia E. Butler signing a copy of Fledgling via Wikipedia.
This is really good of you. I love Octavia Butler's work and am looking forward to your celebration of her work.
ReplyDelete