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Following a devastating nuclear war,

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Lilith Iyapo awakens
after 200 years of stasis

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to find herself surrounded by a group 
of aliens called the Oankali.

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These highly intelligent beings 
want to do something

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they claim will be mutually beneficial:

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trade DNA by breeding with humans

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so that each species’ genes 
can fortify the other.

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Should Lilith hold on to her ideas 
of what it means to be human,

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or make a leap into the biological 
unknown?

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These questions haunt Octavia Butler’s Dawn,

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the first in her trilogy Lilith’s Brood.

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A visionary storyteller who upended science fiction,

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Butler built stunning worlds throughout her work–

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and explored dilemmas that keep us awake at night.

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Born in 1947,

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Butler grew up shy and introverted in 
Pasadena, California.

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She dreamt up stories from an early age,

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and was soon scribbling these scenarios on paper.

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At twelve, she begged her mother for a typewriter

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after enduring a campy science fiction film called Devil Girl From Mars.

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Unimpressed with what she saw,

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Butler knew she could tell a better story.

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Much science fiction featured white male heroes

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who blasted aliens or were uninvited saviors for brown people.

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Butler wanted to write diverse characters

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and bring nuance and depth to the representation of their experiences,

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all while exploring mind-bending scenarios.

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For Butler,

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imagination was not only for planting the seeds of science fiction–

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but also a strategy for surviving an unjust world on one’s own terms.

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Typically, her work takes troubling features of the world

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such as discrimination on the basis of race, gender, class, or ability,

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and invites the reader to contemplate them in new contexts. 


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One of her most beloved novels,

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the Parable of the Sower,

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follows this pattern.

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It tells the story of Lauren Oya Olamina

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as she makes her way through a world 
ruined by corporate greed,

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inequality, and environmental destruction.

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As she struggles with hyperempathy,

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or the ability to feel others’ pain,

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Lauren embarks on a quest with a group 
of refugees to find a place to thrive.

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There, they seek to live in accordance 
with Lauren’s found religion, Earthseed,

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which is based on the principle

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that humans must adapt to an 
ever-changing world.

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Lauren’s quest had roots 
in a real life event–

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California Prop 187,

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which attempted to deny illegal immigrants
fundamental human rights,

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before it was deemed unconstitutional.

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Butler frequently incorporated 
contemporary news into her writing.

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In her 1998 sequel to The Parable of the 
Sower, Parable of the Talents,

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she wrote of a presidential candidate

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who controls Americans with virtual 
reality and “shock collars.”

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His slogan? “Make America great again.”

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While people have noted her prescience,

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Butler was also interested in 
re-examining history.

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For instance,

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Kindred tells the story of a woman

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who is repeatedly pulled back in time

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to the Maryland plantation 
of her ancestors.

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Early on, she learns that her mission 
is to save the life of the white man

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who will rape her great grandmother.

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If she doesn’t, she herself 
will cease to exist.

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This grim dilemma forces Dana to 
confront the ongoing trauma

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of slavery and sexual violence 
against Black women.

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With her stories of women who 
founded new societies,

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time travelers overcoming 
historical strife,

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and interspecies bonding,

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Butler had a profound influence on growing
popularity of Afrofuturism.

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That’s a movement where Black writers and 
artists who are inspired by the future

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produce works that incorporate magic, 
history, technology and much more.

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And today,

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Butler’s work remains a powerful reminder

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that imagination can be a tool 
for real change–

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as well as a rallying call for those who 
seek other ways to be in the world.

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As Lauren comes to learn in 
Parable of the Sower,

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"All that you touch you Change.

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All that you Change Changes you.

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The only lasting truth is Change.”