Octavia E. Butler
Octavia E. Butler
Octavia Estelle Butlerwas an American science fiction writer. A multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, Butler was one of the best-known women in the field. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship, nicknamed the "Genius Grant."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth22 June 1947
CountryUnited States of America
adds attitude causes changes forces helps people understand
Every story I write adds to me a little, changes me a little, forces me to reexamine an attitude or belief, causes me to research and learn, helps me to understand people and grow.
hear others permitted
Beware, all too often we say what we hear others say. We think what we are told that we think. We see what we are permitted to see. Worse, we see what we are told that we see.
astute course fun information needed people stories time travel truth
People who think about time travel stories sometimes think that going back in time would be fun because you would have all the information you needed to be much more astute than the people there, when the truth is of course you wouldn't.
asked classes elderly fiction finally handing kept polite science taught took wrote
I took classes taught by an elderly woman who wrote children's stories. She was polite about the science fiction and fantasy that I kept handing in, but she finally asked in exasperation, 'Can't you write anything normal?'
aside certain countries generally people reasons religious spit
In countries where there are no racial differences or no religious differences, people find other reasons to set aside one certain group of people and generally spit in their direction.
caused civilization felt might mileage people several shared somehow
Several years ago, when I was about to start a novel, I thought I might get some mileage out of the idea of a civilization in which people somehow felt - that is, they shared - all the pain and all the pleasure they caused one another.
introduce norm people reason telling view
The norm is white, apparently, in the view of people who see things in that way. For them, the only reason you would introduce a black character is to introduce this kind of abnormality. Usually, it's because you're telling a story about racism or at least about race.
bill courage ideals john kerry people
I think we need people with stronger ideals than John Kerry or Bill Clinton. I think we need people with more courage and vision.
kids
I learned that five- and-six-year-old kids have already figured out how to be intolerant.
heck life major minor tragedies
The major tragedies in life, there's just no compensation. But the minor ones you can always write about. It's my way of dealing, and it's a heck of a lot cheaper than psychiatrists. The story, you see, will get you through.
movies people
Movies are extremely imitative of one another. Whatever works, people will try to do it.
believed deal great people
My race and sex had a great deal more to do with what people believed I could do than with what I actually could do.
people
Writing has been as difficult for me as for people who don't like to write and as little fun.
awkward earliest hopeless rest school shy spite sports taller
At school I was always taller than the rest of my class, and because I was an only child, I was comfortable with adults but shy and awkward with other kids. I was quiet, bookish, and in spite of my size, hopeless at sports. In short, I was different. And even in the earliest grades, I got pounded for it.