Octavia Butler - 1947
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San Pedro High School in San Pedro, California
I. Biography
Octavia Butler was born June 22, 1947 in Pasadena, California. The daughter of Laurice and Octavia M. Butler, she is the only African-American woman writing science fiction today. She was an only child and raised by her mother and grandmother after her father died.
Butler was raised in a Baptist setting and was not allowed to dance or wear make-up. Considerably tall for her age, she loved being around adults because she felt like she belonged. By the age of 12, she knew she wanted to write science fiction. There was much disinterest from critics towards her writing style in high school and at Pasadena City College, California State University at Los Angeles, and UCLA. She had to work odd jobs to pay for her night classes and worked with the Writers Guild of America.
In 1970, at the age of 23, she attended the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop. In that session, she sold her first two stories. She went to UCLA to continue her training. In 1976, she published her first novel, Patternmaster.
Octavia Butler is not married and currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
II. Literary Works (partial listing)
"Near of Kin" (1971)
Mind of My Mind (1977)
Survivor (1978)
Kindred (1979)
Wild Seed (1980)
"Speech Sounds" (1983)
"Bloodchild"(1984)
Clay's Ark (1984)
Imago (1989)
"Positive Obsession" (1989)
"Furor Scribendi" (1993)
Parable of the Sower (1993)
Parable of the Talents (1998)
This essay was submitted by a student of Denise Marovich-Sampson, a teacher at San Pedro High School in San Pedro, California.