Or, at least, she did in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower. The 1993 dystopian classic recounts the life and times of a Black girl who shares the pain of others. Lauren lives with this burden ...

Growing up, Butler was shy and dyslexic, spending many of her hours at the local library. When she began writing at the age of seven, she made up stories about horses despite knowing nothing about the ...

Reading Gerry Canavan’s “Octavia E. Butler” is like opening up a second screen on this great American writer. Not only does Canavan explicate the sources, patterns and preoccupations of Butler’s ...

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. As with many people who have recently re-read Butler’s work—and a new literary ...

On July 20, 2024, Lauren Olamina turned 15. Or, at least, she did in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower. The 1993 dystopian classic recounts the life and times of a Black girl who shares the ...

In “Parable of the Sower,” Octavia E. Butler writes about a brutal, mid-2020s Southern California ravaged by wildfire, earthquakes and an addictive pharmaceutical that fuels a destructive drug ...

"Positive Obsession" is a beautiful biography of Butler that not only explores her work, but also the key historical and social moments that shaped it — and the literary styles Butler herself inspired ...

Young people who have read Octavia Butler’s 1993 novel say it’s not only prescient, but also carries lessons for today. Imminent drought, rising sea waters, destructive borders, a vanishing middle ...