Octavia Butler (1947-2006) was probably one of the most outstanding Sci-Fi writers that you never knew! Here are ten (plus one!) facts about her.
''Devil Girl From Mars was the movie that got her writing science fiction; she was just 12 years old and thought she could write a better story!
Author of twelve novels and assorted short stories, she was the most prominent African American, female Sci-Fi writer in the world.
Her father was a shoeshine man and her mother was a maid.
Her first novel, Kindred, released in 1979, told the story of a black woman who travels back into a time just before the Civil War.
She won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. The Hugo and Nebula Awards are considered science fiction's highest awards.
She was 6 feet tall by age 15.
She remains the only science fiction writer to receive one of the "genius grants"($295,000) from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
She was dyslexic.
Butler received an Associate of Arts degree in 1968 from Pasadena City College.
She believed that people should read voraciously because, among other things, it would help them learn to write.
Plus One! She once said, "I'm not writing for some noble purpose, I just like telling a good story. If what I write about helps others understand this world we live in, so much the better for all of us."
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Comments: 9
Thanks for your insight here. Appreciate your sharing your knowledge.
I disagree on one little thing though: I don't think she was "pigeonholed" out of disrespect but because it was a FACT. I for one, WANT people to know who she was and what she was because not many people would know otherwise. And she made history.
Always something new to learn! on this earth, huh?
P
Thanks for the info about her. I love learning about interesting people
Glad you found her "facts" page interesting.
P