Octavia E. Butler

22 June 1947 - 24 February 2006

For any matters relating to business, please contact her literary agent:

mmejias@writershouse.com

The Octavia E. Butler
Memorial Scholarship Fund

Administered by the Carl Brandon Society

Bannerlink to Scholarship Fund

Octavia E. Butler
Scholarship Fund Information Card
Side 1 [35Kb PDF]
Side 2 [30Kb PDF]

Tributes to Octavia Butler

During March 2007, author Nalo Hopkinson hosted several tributes to Octavia Butler.

Butler and Hopkinson had been scheduled to tour together on the occasion of the release of the paperback edition of Octavia Butler's last novel, Fledgling, and the publication of Hopkinson's new novel, The New Moon's Arms.

Thursday, March 1, 2007
Seattle Public Library
Seattle, WA

Tuesday, March 6, 2007
The Booksmith
1644 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
415-863-8688

Thursday, March 8, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
Olsson's Books
418 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
202-638-7610

Tuesday, March 13, 2007, 6:00 p.m.
Hue-Man Bookstore
Off-site event
2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd.
New York, NY 10027
212-665-7400

Felicia Pride, AOL Black Voices:
Eight reasons why Octavia E. Butler is important.
N.B. Linked site loads and plays sound.

Photos of Octavia Butler

Photos by Leslie Howle

Photos by David Findlay

Remembrances

"Remembering Octavia Butler"
by Karen Joy Fowler
Slate

Steven Barnes' Weblog

Seattle PI

SFF Net

Interviews & Reviews

Octavia Butler, Weekend Edition Saturday, December 29, 2001

Octavia Butler 8/30/2001, UN Racism Conference

Octavia Butler 5/18/2000

Fledgling review by Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered, 23 February 2007, NPR. (Online audio)

Science Fiction Writer Octavia Butler on Race, Global Warming and Religion [offsite link to Democracy Now]

WAMC Bookshow interview
Rebroadcast: 7 March 2006
Interview and appreciation will be available on the web

Obituaries

"Farewell to a beloved science-fiction writer"
by Michael Swanwick, CentreDaily.com

"Octavia E. Butler, Science Fiction Writer, Dies at 58"
by Margalit Fox, New York Times
(requires login)

"Sci-Fi Author Octavia Butler Dies"
by Neda Ulaby, Day to Day, NPR

"Acclaimed Science Fiction Author Octavia Butler
Dies After Falling at Home"
by Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

"Octavia Butler, 1947-2006: Sci-fi writer a gifted pioneer in white, male domain,"
by John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Octavia Butler, prominent science fiction author, dies at 58,"
by Gene Johnson, AP, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Octavia Butler, brilliant master of sci-fi, dies at 58,"
by Emily Heffter, The Seattle Times

"Octavia Butler, 58; Author Opened the Galaxies of Science Fiction to Blacks"
by Jocelyn Y. Stewart, LA Times
(may require log-in)

Octavia E. Butler
SFWA News

Fledgling

Fledgling ebook

Seven Stories Press
September 30, 2005
ISBN: 1583226907

Octavia Butler talks with Evette Porter about Fledgling

[offsite link]

Reviews

[Fledgling] doesn't just resurrect the pale trappings of vampire lore, it completely transforms them in a startlingly original story about race, family and free will."
— Ron Charles
Washington Post
[complete review]
"At first glance, Fledgling's only flaw is that it ends. Yet the conclusion is a satisfying one, with no loose ends. The real problem is that despite this, it leaves the reader wanting more. More Shori. More Ina. In a word, more books."
— Nisi Shawl
The Seattle Times
[complete review]
"Butler is one of the finest voices in fiction — period.... A master storyteller, Butler casts an unflinching eye on racism, sexism, poverty, and ignorance and lets the reader see the terror and beauty of human nature."
— Washington Post Book World

Kindred

25^th anniversary edition

Beacon Press
February 2004
0-8070-8369-0

From the Beacon Press catalogue:

The twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of the classic novel
that has sold over 250,000 copies

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back again and again for Rufus, yet each time the stay grows longer and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has even begun.

A Leader's Guide to Kindred, by Jacqui James, Meg Riley, and Wendy Bivens [offsite link]
Excerpt from Kindred [offsite link]
Seeing Ear Theater presents Kindred

Online Stories

Amnesty, at SciFiction
The Book of Martha, at SciFiction

Online Interviews

Octavia Butler talks with Evette Porter about Fledgling [offsite link]
NPR "Weekend Edition" Interview [offsite link]
NPR "Weekend Edition" Essay on a World without Racism [offsite link]
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