Little-Known Black History Fact: Octavia Butler

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Little-Known Black History Fact: Octavia Butler

Date: Wednesday, December 09, 2009, 5:21 am
By: Erica Taylor, The Tom Joyner Morning Show

Octavia Butler (a.k.a. Junie) was one of the best-known writers of science fiction in her field. She is noted for being the first science fiction writer to receive the prestigious McArthur Foundation Genius Grant for $295,000.
Working with words wasn’t originally at the top of the list for Butler. She was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child, but she used her stumbling block as a learning curve and began writing at age 10. After watching a poorly written science fiction movie, she turned off the television and challenged herself to write a better one.
Butler's first published book in 1974 was based on the story that she began writing after seeing the bad film as a child. “Patternmaster” became a series of novels that she would extend over eight years. In 1979, she wrote “Kindred,” a powerful story surrounding a character named Dana, a black woman, who is somehow transported from L.A. in 1976 to early 19th century Maryland to meet her family's slave master and her ancestors. This was her most popular book.
Butler’s unusual mix of concepts like race, sexuality, gender, religion, social progress and social class with science fiction made her a one of a kind. She has received every major sci-fi award for her work, including the MacArthur grant. Butler died in 2006, but there is now a scholarship in her honor for writers of color.

Home › News › BlackAmericaWeb News

Little-Known Black History Fact: Octavia Butler

Date: Wednesday, December 09, 2009, 5:21 am
By: Erica Taylor, The Tom Joyner Morning Show

Octavia Butler (a.k.a. Junie) was one of the best-known writers of science fiction in her field. She is noted for being the first science fiction writer to receive the prestigious McArthur Foundation Genius Grant for $295,000.
Working with words wasn’t originally at the top of the list for Butler. She was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child, but she used her stumbling block as a learning curve and began writing at age 10. After watching a poorly written science fiction movie, she turned off the television and challenged herself to write a better one.
Butler's first published book in 1974 was based on the story that she began writing after seeing the bad film as a child. “Patternmaster” became a series of novels that she would extend over eight years. In 1979, she wrote “Kindred,” a powerful story surrounding a character named Dana, a black woman, who is somehow transported from L.A. in 1976 to early 19th century Maryland to meet her family's slave master and her ancestors. This was her most popular book.
Butler’s unusual mix of concepts like race, sexuality, gender, religion, social progress and social class with science fiction made her a one of a kind. She has received every major sci-fi award for her work, including the MacArthur grant. Butler died in 2006, but there is now a scholarship in her honor for writers of color.