Each letter is a witness to the dependence of readers upon authors – “Your work is a river I come to” says one contributor “I love you across oceans, across generations, across lives” says another. Mondal describes the contributions as “extremely heart-baring and vulnerable”. Each piece is raw, each piece tugs at your heart-strings. All the contributors in the book have personalized connections to Butler – one contributor questions the nature of consent in relationships, and responsibilities of privilege, while referencing Butler’s last book, Fledgling, while another laments the state of America at extant times, four decades since Kindred, while yet another – marginalised contributor – apologizes for resorting to warez to read her works. And diversity is a well thought-out aspect here – the contributors are from marginalised, minority groups who have learned to love Butler because their social spaces seemed similar. The anthology is crowdsourced from people who were interested and had worked on Butler – university departments, African-American writing books, and for the editors, the contributor base sort of snowballed into the book as it is now. The book attempts to do exactly that – bringing together a community that sees a pattern in Butler’s work, identifies with her writing, and turns to her for comfort. The idea for the title of the book comes from the Patternmaster, Butler’s first novel – where Teray, a character, senses a pattern that connects all the telepaths and realises that these are “luminescent threads” connecting him to his community. I was lucky to have had the chance to read the advance reader copy of the book, and speak to the editors. It is titled ‘ Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler ’ and is slated to release in early August. On the occasion of Octavia Butler’s 70th birthday, Pierce and Mondal are doing exactly that – they have edited and brought out the most comforting collection of letters to Octavia Butler. A good thing about this habit is, of course, that at some point, brilliant people like Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal might want to consolidate and publish these letters as a homage to your voice of reason, your favourite author. We have all bared our secrets and mysteries to our favourite authors at some point. See all the posts here.ĭo you often write dead letters – that you pen down in your journal on nights when you’ve been defeated – to your favourite author? I have done this, and I’m sure, dear Reader, that you have too. Participants receive a 15% discount at our bookstore.This is one of numerous posts written today at the Riot in celebration of Octavia Butler’s birthday. Minor changes in the reading list are possible, depending on the inclinations of the group.īooks are not included in the cost of the class.

In subsequent meetings we will read Kindred, Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents, Lilith’s Brood and Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Please read the collection Bloodchild and Other Stories before the first meeting. How does a marginalized perspective envision aliens as well as a rapidly alienating world? What can we learn about dystopias from an author whose history has always been a dystopia, and will that make us better, wiser, more compassionate human beings? How can we read, write and talk about joy, hope and community at a time of despair? Whether you have read Butler’s works before or are arriving to them for the first time, these themes will be explored in our discussions. Butler first began writing science fiction and fantasy in the 1970s, when the genre was still dominated by the visions of mainstream white authors. Through our journey with this reading group, participants will have an opportunity to engage with the works of a wildly imaginative and strikingly original intellect. The group will conclude on the day after Butler’s 73rd birthday, with a study of some of her nonfiction and her impact on the science fiction community and other authors. We will discuss Butler’s short fiction and some of her novels.

Butler, the first renowned black woman author in science fiction and fantasy, whose works ring more and more prophetic as we step into 2020. This reading group will visit (or revisit) the works of Octavia E. This reading group will take place online via Zoom.

Octavia e. butler books list