At once a coming-of-age story, science fiction adventure, and philosophical exploration, Butler’s ambitious and breathtaking novel ultimately raises the question of what it means to be human. Lilith and Nikanj leave its childhood home. Nikanj's mates, Ahajas and Dichaan, assist Lilith with the transition—they carry Nikanj out of the home together. Lilith does not feel ready to leave Jdhaya's home, where she has grown comfortable. Lilith is going to live with

George, Lynell (November 17, 2022). "The Visions of Octavia Butler". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved November 25, 2022. Octavia Estelle Butler was born in Pasadena, California, the only child of Octavia Margaret Guy, a housemaid, and Laurice James Butler, a shoeshiner. Butler's father died when she was seven. She was raised by her mother and maternal grandmother in what she would later recall as a strict Baptist environment. [7] As the novel progresses, the Oankali make several genetic modifications to Lilith. In "Family," Nikanj changes Lilith's genetics so that she can understand the Oankali language. Before the beginning of "Nursery," it also makes Lilith physically stronger and gives her the ability to open Oankali walls and control the suspended-animation plants. These transformations change not only her physical body but also her personality and behavior. As Nancy Jesser explains in her article "Blood, genes and gender in Octavia Butler's Kindred and Dawn," Lilith's physical and social transformation suggests a link between the body's makeup (genotype) and lived experience (phenotype): "Because the Oankali are expert readers of the human genome as well as its manipulators, Butler uses them to explore the mechanisms and limits of the effects of genotype manipulations and the experiences of lived bodies." Geyh, Paula, Fred G. Leebron and Andrew Levy. "Octavia Butler". Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998: 554–555. Octavia E. Butler Papers". oac.cdlib.org. Online Archives of California . Retrieved January 11, 2017.

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Malik, Tariq (June 22, 2018). "Google Doodle Honors Science Fiction Author Octavia E. Butler". Space.com . Retrieved June 22, 2018. Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman, "Science Fiction Writer Octavia Butler on Race, Global Warming, and Religion", Democracy Now! November 11, 2005. Holden, Rebecca J., "The High Costs of Cyborg Survival: Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis Trilogy". Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction 72 (1998): 49–56.

Octavia E. Butler: Telling My Stories." Program and Exhibit (April 8 – August 7, 2017), The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Collins, Kiara (January 28, 2016). "Octavia Butler's personal journal shows the author literally wrote her life into existence". Blavity. The first novel, Patternmaster (1976), eventually became the last installment in the series' internal chronology. Set in the distant future, it tells of the coming-of-age of Teray, a young Patternist who fights for position within Patternist society and eventually for the role of Patternmaster. [23] Butler maintained a longstanding relationship with the Huntington Library and bequeathed her papers including manuscripts, correspondence, school papers, notebooks, and photographs to the library in her will. [37] The collection, comprising 9,062 pieces in 386 boxes, 1 volume, 2 binders and 18 broadsides, was made available to scholars and researchers in 2010. [38] Themes [ edit ] Critique of present-day hierarchies [ edit ]

Los Angeles Public Library opened the Octavia Lab, a do-it-yourself maker space and audiovisual space named in Butler's honor. [87]The International Astronomical Union named a mountain on Charon (a moon of Pluto) Butler Mons to honor the author, after a public suggestion period and nomination by NASA. [83]

Curtis, Claire P. "Theorizing Fear: Octavia Butler and the Realist Utopia." Utopian Studies 19.3 (2008): 411–431. JSTOR 20719919. Science Fiction Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on March 25, 2010 . Retrieved March 25, 2010. . [Quote: "EMP|SFM is proud to announce the 2010 Hall of Fame inductees:..."]. Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame ( empsfm.org). Archived March 25, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2013. Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship". carlbrandon.org. Carl Brandon Society. 2015 . Retrieved October 15, 2016. Stephen W. Potts, "'We Keep on Playing the Same Record': A Conversation with Octavia E. Butler", Science Fiction Studies 23.3. November 1996, pp.331–338. JSTOR 4240538.Butler herself has been highly influential in science fiction, particularly for people of color. In 2015, Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha co-edited Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, a collection of 20 short stories and essays about social justice inspired by Butler. [58] Toshi Reagon adapted Parable of the Sower into an opera. [59] In 2020, Adrienne Maree Brown and Toshi Reagon began collaborating on a podcast called Octavia's Parables. [60] Point of view [ edit ] Octavia E. Butler, reading her description of herself included in Parable of the Sower, during a 1994 interview with Jelani Cobb