Finding Strength in the Darkness: Octavia Butler

When I think about the writers I admire, the late Octavia Butler stands out as a singular example.  Her creativity is born of a profound understanding of human strength and weaknesses, politics, the world we’ve built, and all the ways we might have forced this world to fail us.

Her stories don’t let us hide from our foolishness.  They create plausible, mind-bending histories and future – new species, evolving humanity, ancient evils, hope where there seems to be none.  She dives deeply into an Afrofuturism that doesn’t pull punches and maps out well-structured paths to potential survival.

And, there is this sense of being seen.  Octavia Butler wrote the kinds of people she wanted to see in the world – people who looked like her, whose stories weren’t being told, whose voices had not been heard.  She helped us see her, and by extension, ourselves.  She opened doors for occupying spaces, places and times.

I’m not sure I’ll ever be a writer with the gravitas of an Octavia Butler, but I continue to be inspired by her, the stories and worlds she created, and her author’s journey.  Take your own dive into her story in this recent episode of Throughline from NPR.

Keywords: Octavia Butler, science fiction, fantasy, storytelling, black authors, dystopian future, African American