Literary pioneer and sci-fi novelist Octavia Butler.
For months I’ve been wanting to select a classic novel by a renowned author – James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Zora Neal Hurston – but I couldn’t find intersections of author/story that jived with the book club selection flow. (Yes, there’s a flow, even if I’m the only one who notices. 😜)
When Parable of the Sower by sci-fi novelist Octavia Butler crossed my radar, I was immediately intrigued by the idea of reading about a would-be not-too-distant future, a strikingly familiar depiction of today.
Published in 1993, the dystopian epoch set in a 2020’s Los Angeles addresses global warming, social inequity, women’s rights and political disparity, themes all too close to home. Read the full synopsis below.
Join us in reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Our virtual discussion is Thursday, March 31 at 6:30 p.m. PST/ 9:30 EST.
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Synopsis: The time is 2025. Global climate change and economic crises has lead to social chaos, and California is full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others’ emotions. Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more.
A brief, informative TED-Ed video discussing the influence of Octavia Butler’s work.
Octavia E. Butler (1947 - 2006) was a renowned African American author who received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. Born in Pasadena in 1947, she was raised by her mother and her grandmother. She was the author of several award-winning novels including Parable of the Sower (1993). She was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the far future.
Lil Nappy Book Club meets on virtually Thursday, March 31 at 6:30 p.m. PST/ 9:30 EST.
We always use this Zoom link for book club meetings.
Meeting ID: 896 2942 1314 / Passcode: 510539
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Watch this 2005 interview with Octavia Butler on Democracy Now!