![]() Note that climate change is a historical, present, and future concern. That’s to say it is as much a reflection of the past as a projection of a brighter future in which black and African culture does not hide in the margins of the white mainstream. It is an intersectional lens through which to view possible futures or alternate realities, though it is rooted in chronological fluidity. The term Afrofuturism, coined in 1993, seeks to reclaim black identity through art, culture, and political resistance. In African Arguments (“This is Afrofuturism,” March 6, 2018), Bolanle Austen Peters states: ![]() The Earthseed series seems to accurately envision the near-future world’s downfalls, brought on by climate change and economic disparity, which have resulted in growing populism and demagoguery around the world. Inverse calls Octavia Butler the “Mother of Afrofuturism” and describes four themes used in her books: critique of modern-day hierarchies, violence, survival, and diversity. ![]() Butler: Why the Author Is Called the Mother of Afrofuturism,” by Kat Tenbarge, June 22, 2018), Afrofuturism is a type of cultural aesthetic that explores the intersection of African culture with technology and futurism. Her stories were powerful and believable.Īccording to Inverse (“Octavia E. Despite tackling multiple issues–politics, environment, segregation, religion, social injustices–her prose was concise. Her protagonists were stoic and inspiring. The worlds she built were beautiful, harsh, and grim. She wrote powerfully, imaginatively, and creatively. Octavia helped usher in the genre of YA dystopian fiction. Talking about the Earthseed series as a very real tale should not drown out the story itself. But time marches impossibly on, and for those of us who clearly remember 1993, the vacuum that has sucked out space from then to now seems both eternal and too quick. Sower opens in 2024, which once seemed so futuristic, even in the year 1993 when the book was published. ![]() A third in the series, Parable of the Trickster, was not completed before her death. By Nikolas Coukouma – This is the first time this version of the photo has been released by Nikolas Coukouma, CC BY-SA 2.5Įarthseed contains two novels: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. In addition, she wrote two stand-alone novels, two short story collections, and several essays and speeches. 123-126.) Octavia’s series include the Patternist, Xenogenesis, and Parable (also called Earthseed). “Positive Obsession.” Bloodchild and Other Stories. By the time she was a pre-teen she got her first typewriter, ignoring her Aunt Hazel telling her, “Negroes can’t be writers.” (Source: Butler, Octavia Estelle. A Hugo and Nebula award winner, she wrote fairy tales as a young girl. Octavia Butler, an African American science fiction writer, was born in 1947 and died in 2006. Following are some excerpts from that article, which focus mostly on the Parable series. My spotlight on Octavia Butler will appear there in a few months. I wrote about Butler in my series at Dragonfly.eco called Authors Tackling Climate Change, which is now being rerun at Artists & Climate Change in their Wild Authors series. Doro, a killer who uses his power to breed people like livestock, encounters Anyanwu, a healer who forces him to reassess his millennia of cruel behavior: for centuries, their personal battles change the course of our world as they struggle against the backdrop of time - master vs slave, man vs woman, killer vs healer.įor Butler fans, this news is welcome, and for others not having read her works, it’s a wonderful chance to delve into some great storytelling and get to know one of the classic writers of our times. Deadline reported:Ĭo-written by award-winning sci-fi novelist Nnedi Okorafor and Rafiki filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu who is set to direct, Wild Seed is a love (and hate) story of two African immortals who travel the ages from pre-Colonial West Africa to the far, far future. The show is being produced by JuVee Productions, a Los Angeles company led by actors Viola Davis and Julius Tennon. In other news, according to the Los Angeles Times, Amazon is also developing a series based on Wild Seed, the fourth book in Butler’s Patternist series. Boing Boing states: “The new edition features a brilliant introduction by NK Jemisin, whose Broken Earth trilogy made Hugo Award history last year when all three volumes won the prize for Best Novel.” According to Boing Boing, the new edition of Parable of the Sower will be published April 30th and Parable of the Talents later this year. Octavia Butler passed away in 2006, but her work continues to engage and inspire readers everywhere, so much so that her Parable series (Earthseed) has new editions coming out this year. Cover permission granted by Grand Central Publishing.
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