What if you could travel through time? What if you lived on another planet? What if you met magic beings? No one knows these answers. But science-fiction writers imagine these worlds. Octavia Estelle Butler was a sci-fi superstar!
Butler was born in Pasadena, California, in 1947. Her mother got her to read. Butler spent hours at the library. Butler was very shy. She loved coming up with stories. At the age of 10, Butler knew she wanted to be a writer.
It wasn’t an easy dream. There weren’t many Black writers back then. “I had never read a printed word written by a Black person,” Butler later wrote. She didn’t let that stop her though. “Writing will be my job,” a young Butler said.
Butler wrote and wrote. She went to college and to . She came up with sci-fi and fantasy stories. Butler kept writing even when companies didn’t take her stories. And she kept writing while she worked other jobs.
In 1976, Butler put out her first novel. The book is about beings. Butler went on to write at least 12 more books. Her tales were out-of-this-world. But they tackled real topics. She wrote about family, racism, power, and more.
When Butler started, most sci-fi writers were white men. Butler was the first Black woman to find success. She became one of America’s best writers. Butler won top awards.
Butler died in 2006. People still read her stories though. They can learn from Butler’s worlds and from her. Butler’s writing talent was clear. But she thought her best talent was “ .”
As Butler said: “It’s amazing what we can do if we refuse to give up.”
Updated March 16, 2022, 5:01 P.M. (ET)
By Ashley Morgan
