This blogpost isn't big enough to say all the things that should be said about the original Afrofuturist, Octavia Butler—but we couldn't let this month's focus come to a close without appreciating the beloved author's radical notes of affirmation.
Ms. Butler worked her writing schedule with precision and determination, showing up to the proverbial blank page day after day and turning out novels that would eventually earn her a MacArthur Genius award, a Lifetime Achievement Award in Writing from the PEN American Center, and several best-sellers.
BUT/AND, she also worked the self-belief angle with her might.
Her notebook pages were filled with what we might now call Law of Attraction ideas or manifestation techniques—pretty sure she would have just called it putting her BEST FOOT FOWARD.
When the original Afrofuturist Octavia Butler died in 2006, writer Tananarive Due said, “In Black speculative fiction we are a tiny family, and Octavia Butler was our matriarch. So we just lost our mother, our grandmother."
But what remains are the matriarchs written into Butler’s beautiful books—such as the Earthseed series, in which the main character, Lauren Olamina, is a model for a world in which ecofeminism drives powerful change.
If you’re looking for a book to keep up the matriarchy momentum, we couldn’t recommend Parable of the Sower more. What are your favorite works of feminist fiction, and how do they inspire your visions of what the real world can be?
Discover our fave reads by this icon and get inspired click here for our curated list or tap on the titles below.
