- Born
- Died
- Birth nameOctavia Estelle Butler
- Nickname
- Junie
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Octavia Butler was born on June 22, 1947 in Pasadena, California, USA. She was a writer, known for Kindred (2022), Parable of the Sower and Wild Seed. She died on February 24, 2006 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, USA.
- She was paralytically shy her entire life.
- In 1995, she became the first science-fiction writer to be awarded the MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, which paid her US$295,000 over a 5-year period. The award is given annually to people who challenge and expand the boundaries of their chosen fields.
- Was the first African American woman to gain popularity and critical acclaim as a major science-fiction writer, championed by and protégée of Harlan Ellison.
- She began writing at age 10. In 1970, she attended a fantasy writer's workshop in East Lansing, Michigan.
- Daughter of Laurice and Octavia M. "Guy" Butler, she was the only child of five pregnancies that her mother was able to carry to full term.
- I'm...comfortably asocial -- a hermit in the middle of Seattle -- a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a Black [person], a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive.
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