This series of books explores issues of genetics and race. In the late 1980s, Butler published her Xenogenesis trilogy-“Dawn” in 1987, “Adulthood Rites” in 1988 and “Imago” in 1989. Other Patternist titles include “Mind of My Mind” in 1977 and “Clay’s Ark” in 1984. In 1976, Butler published her first novel, “Patternmaster.” This book was the first in a series of works about a group of people with telepathic powers called Patternists. She has been inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. In 1995, Butler received a “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation, which allowed her to buy a house for her mother and herself. In the mid-1980s, Butler began to receive critical recognition for her work.īutler won the Nebula Award for Best Novel with “Parable of the Talents” in 1999, the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novelette, “Bloodchild” in 1985, and the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for “Speech Sounds” in 1984. It was this passionate interest in the human experience that imbued her work with a certain depth and complexity. But for Butler, it largely served as a vehicle to address issues facing humanity. She remained, throughout her career, a self-identified science fiction fan, an insider who rose from within the ranks of the field.įor some writers, science fiction serves as means to delve into fantasy. She also had high praise for her time in The Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop, where she first met Samuel R. Through Open Door, she met the noted science fiction writer Harlan Ellison in 1969. She would later credit two writing workshops for giving her “the most valuable help I received with my writing.” She participated in The Open Door Workshop of the Screen Writers Guild of America West, a program designed to mentor Latino and African American writers. She eventually left CalState and took writing classes through a UCLA extension. She began writing at the age of ten “to escape loneliness and boredom,” and when she was twelve, she began her lifelong interest in science fiction.Īfter earning her associate’s degree from Pasadena City College in 1968, she enrolled at California State University in Los Angeles. Nicknamed “Junie,” Octavia Butler was paralytically shy and a daydreamer, and was later diagnosed as being dyslexic. According to the Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Butler was “an introspective, only child in a strict Baptist household” and was drawn early to science fiction magazines such as “Amazing,” “Fantasy,” “Science Fiction,” and “Galaxy,” and soon began reading all the science fiction classics. She grew up in a struggling, racially mixed neighborhood. Butler), who worked as a maid in order to support the family. Her father Laurice, died when she was a baby, and Butler was raised by her grandmother and her mother (Octavia M. Octavia Estelle Butler was born and raised in Pasadena, California. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. She was a celebrated American Science Fiction author, who excelled in a genre with few African-American women. Octavia Butler was born on J(to February 24, 2006).
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