Octavia Butler
Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant.
After her father died, Butler was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Octavia found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. She attended community college during the Black Power movement, and while participating in a local writer's workshop was encouraged to attend the Clarion Workshop, which focused on science fiction.
She soon sold her first stories and by the late 1970s had become sufficiently successful as an author that she was able to pursue writing full-time. Her books and short stories drew the favorable attention of the public and awards judges. She also taught writer's workshops, and eventually relocated to Washington state. Butler died of a stroke at the age of 58. Her papers are held in the research collection of the Huntington Library.
“I'm a fifty-three-year-old writer who can remember being a ten-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an eighty-year-old writer.”
“My brother Keith begged to go with us as usual. He'll turn thirteen in a few days - August 14 - and the thought of waiting two more years until he's 15 must seem impossible to him. I understand. Waiting is terrible. Waiting to be older is worse than other kinds of waiting because there's nothing you can do to make it happen faster.”
“First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice.”
“In order to rise from its own ashes, a Phoenix first must burn.”
“Drowning peopleSometimes dieFighting their rescuers.”
“Beware:At war Or at peace,More people die Of unenlightened self-interestThan of any other disease.”
“He was like me - a kindred spirit crazy enough to keep on trying.”
“Change is the one unavoidable, irresistible, ongoing reality of the universe. To us, that makes it the most powerful reality, and just another word for God.Earthseed: The Books of the LivingLauren Oya Olamina”
“When apparent stability disintegrates,As it must--God is Change--People tend to give inTo fear and depression,To need and greed.When no influence is strong enoughTo unify peopleThey divide.They struggle,One against one,Group against group,For survival, position, power.They remember old hates and generate new ones,The create chaos and nurture it.They kill and kill and kill,Until they are exhausted and destroyed,Until they are conquered by outside forces,Or until one of them becomesA leaderMost will follow,Or a tyrantMost fear.”
“In order to riseFrom its own ashesA phoenixFirstMustBurn.”