She dared to challenge the white maleness of the genre, paving the way for any 'youngsters' of color who wanted to write-especially women.īorn on June 22nd, 1947, Octavia Estelle Butler grew up in a segregated Pasadena, California with her widowed working mother. It seems as though, in writing these words, Butler also wrote her dreams into existence: Today, the titles of her novels are often (and justly) accompanied by adjectives like “classic,” “essential,” and “groundbreaking.”Īsk a sci-fi reader to list the greatest voices of the genre, and Butler's name will more than likely come up.
Among them: 'helping black youngsters,' and ensuring her books were 'read by millions of people.' She was referring to her aspirations as an author, vowing she would not rest until she accomplished her goals. “So be it, see to it,” Octavia Butler famously wrote in one of her journals.
