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<\/p>\n Posted on: June 22, 2022; Updated on: June 22, 2022 In 2021, Alyssa Collins<\/a>,\u00a0 assistant professor of English Language and Literature, was awarded a yearlong Butler, whose papers are held at the Huntington, was the first science fiction writer In an interview, which has been edited for length and clarity, Collins explains how Butler, who died in 2006<\/a>, would have turned 75 years old on June 22, 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n How did you become interested in Octavia E. Butler?<\/strong><\/p>\n I first read Butler\u2019s work in a graduate course on feminist literature and theory.
By
\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlyssa Collins, \tac95@mailbox.sc.edu<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n
\n Octavia E. Butler Fellowship from The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens<\/a> in San Marino, California.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n to be awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant. A pioneering writer in a genre long dominated
\n by white men, her work explored power structures, shifting definitions of humanity
\n and alternative societies.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n Butler\u2019s boundless curiosity inspired the author\u2019s work, and how Butler\u2019s experiences
\n as a Black woman drew her to \u201chumans who must deal with the edges or ends of humanity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n We read \u201cParable of the Sower<\/a>,\u201d an apocalyptic novel published in 1993 but set in 21st-century America. I was really
\n intrigued by the prescient nature of the novel. But I wanted to know if she had anything
\n weirder on her backlist.<\/p>\n