Product details
Biographical note
OCTAVIA E. BUTLER (1947-2006) was the renowned author of numerous ground-breaking novels, including Kindred, Wild Seed, and Parable of the Sower. Recipient of the Locus, Hugo and Nebula awards, and a PEN Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work, in 1995 she became the first science-fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship 'genius grant'. A pioneer of her genre, Octavia's dystopian novels explore myriad themes of Black injustice, women's rights, global warming and political and economic disparity, and her work is taught in over two hundred colleges and universities nationwide.
In 2020, Octavia E. Butler became a New York Times bestselling author.
One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had
- Junot Diaz,
Butler's prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision
Guardian
A dark, compelling and still horribly resonant time travel story
Independent
[Her] evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human
New York Times
No novel I've read this year has felt as relevant, as gut-wrenching or as essential... If you've ever tweeted "All Lives Matter", someone needs to shove <i>Kindred</i> into your hand, and quickly
The Pool
<i>Kindred </i>is that rare magical artifact . . . the novel one returns to, again and again
Harlan Ellison
One cannot finish <i>Kindred </i>without feeling changed. It is a shattering work of art
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
[A] must-read novel
BBC
Everyone should read at least one novel by the grand dame of science fiction, and <i>Kindred</i> is a perfect (and harrowing and disturbing and brilliant) place to start
Refinery 29
The immediate effect of reading Octavia Butler's <i>Kindred</i> is to make every other time travel book in the world look as if it's wimping out... This is a brilliant book, utterly absorbing, very well written, and deeply distressing. It's very hard to read, not because it's not good but because it's so good
Tor
A searing, caustic examination of bizarre and alien practices on the third planet from the sun
Kirkus
One of the most original, thought-provoking works examining race and identity
Los Angeles Times
Impossible to turn away from once you've devoured the first few pages
Starburst
If you haven't read Butler, you don't yet understand how rich the possibilities of science fiction can be
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Butler's books are exceptional
Village Voice
Few writers in our field are so good at blending page-turners with philosophical questions so seamlessly
- Cory Doctorow,
The extraordinary, prescient New York Times bestseller - a modern classic about a young girl fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.
'If there is one thing scarier than a dystopian novel about the future, it's one written in the past that has already begun to come true. This is what makes Parable of the Sower even more impressive than it was when first published' GLORIA STEINEM
'Unnervingly prescient and wise' YAA GYASI
We are coming apart. We're a rope, breaking, a single strand at a time.
America is a place of chaos, where violence rules and only the rich and powerful are safe. Lauren Olamina, a young woman with the extraordinary power to feel the pain of others as her own, records everything she sees of this broken world in her journal.
Then, one terrible night, everything alters beyond recognition, and Lauren must make her voice heard for the sake of those she loves.
Soon, her vision becomes reality and her dreams of a better way to live gain the power to change humanity forever.
Lauren's story continues in Parable of the Talents.
PRAISE FOR OCTAVIA E. BUTLER
'In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time... for sheer peculiar prescience, Butler's novel may be unmatched' NEW YORKER
'Butler's prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision' GUARDIAN
'Octavia Butler was a visionary' VIOLA DAVIS
'One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had' JUNOT DIAZ
'An icon of the Afrofuturism world, envisioning literary realms that placed black characters front and center' VANITY FAIR
'Butler writes with such a familiarity that the alien is welcome and intriguing. She really artfully exposes our human impulse to self-destruct' LUPITA NYONG'O
Product details
Biographical note
OCTAVIA E. BUTLER (1947-2006) was the renowned author of numerous ground-breaking novels, including Kindred, Wild Seed, and Parable of the Sower. Recipient of the Locus, Hugo and Nebula awards, and a PEN Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work, in 1995 she became the first science-fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship 'genius grant'. A pioneer of her genre, Octavia's dystopian novels explore myriad themes of Black injustice, women's rights, global warming and political and economic disparity, and her work is taught in over two hundred colleges and universities nationwide.
In 2020, Octavia E. Butler became a New York Times bestselling author.