Eight Reasons Why Octavia Butler Is Important

Before she tragically passed away, I had the pleasure to hear Octavia Butler speak about writing, life, and politics. She had such a presence and just hearing her words of wisdom left a significant impression on me.

Her last book, Fledgling, was recently released in paperback. It absolutely captures her creative genius and I highly recommend it. In the book, Butler raises questions about what it means to be human and she explores the reasons behind bigotry. In a time when war rages globally because of idealistic, religious, racial, and social differences, she wonders, in her confident prose, using vampires and humans as paradigms, why can't we accept our differences and live harmoniously, when in the end, we need one another?

Many of us aren't aware of Butler's illustrious career, so I've compiled eight reasons why she's important. There are many more reasons. I hope you're able to discover your own to add to the list.

1. She was the first black woman to come to international prominence as a science fiction writer.

2. She was a writer in the truest sense of the word.

3. Her writing was political without being political. Using powerful, spare language and rich well-developed characters, her work tackled race, gender, religion, poverty, power, politics, and science in a way that touched the readers of all backgrounds.

4. She received numerous awards including a MacArthur "genius grant," both the Hugo and Nebula awards, the Langston Hughes Medal and a PEN Lifetime Achievement award.

5. She influenced a generation of notable authors including Nalo Hopkinson, Tananarive Due, and Steven Barnes.

6. There are nearly one million copies of her books in combined print. Her classics include Kindred, Parable of the Talents, and Parable of the Sower.

7. About herself, she once wrote, "I am a fifty-three-year-old writer who can remember being a ten-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an eighty-year-old writer. I'm also comfortably asocial--a hermit in the middle of Seattle--a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive."

8. She showed us what we can accomplish when we apply our intellect, creative talents, and perseverance.