Online lecture about author and former LFP resident Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler scholar Briana Whiteside

Octavia's First Afronaut: History, Resistance and Black Futures

Sunday, February 19, 2023 from 2pm - 3:15pm

Register here

https://kcls.bibliocommons.com/events/63caf6e80470e64100b80c63

In honor of Black History Month, Octavia Butler scholar Briana Whiteside will provide insight into the author's earliest efforts to reimagine black women’s lives and futures by discussing the groundbreaking character Alanna, from Butler's novel, “Survivor.”

Octavia Butler signing a copy of Fledgling (2005)
Wikimedia Commons

In her early Patternist books, Octavia Butler established the themes of identity and transformation that echo throughout her writing and into her more well-known novels, “Kindred” and “Parable of the Sower.”

One novel in that series, “Survivor” (1978), was not included in the re-published series compilation, “Seed to Harvest” (2007.) Briana will talk about why that novel was rescinded (at Butler's request) and why the novel is an important touchstone in Butler's remarkable career.

Briana Whiteside is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and is currently writing a book titled, “Octavia E. Butler and Healing Justice.” She also owns her own consulting and publishing business.