She was a disabled, black artist, and a woman writing science fiction-a field that remains largely dominated by men and, as Butler often spoke about, can be outwardly hostile toward women and trans-identified writers. All that you Change / Changes you.”īutler herself experienced a compromised sense of belonging.

They are motivated by the strong words of Butler’s main character, Lauren Oya Olamina: “All that you touch / you Change. Naturally, they come with very different ideas for moving forward, which both aids and challenges their continued survival. The leaders of a new, emergent “nation” are disabled and BIPOC (black, Indigenous and people of colour), forming an intergenerational collective. There is a shared and ever-shifting understanding of the nature of change, social justice, disability justice and the experience of marginalization and difference. In Parable of the Sower, when neighbourhood walls finally fall, people form a community and, together, try to figure out how to survive. Butler’s story begins here, but it is by no means where it ends. Butler, as told in her incomplete trilogy Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998). This is the uncanny vision of late US speculative-fiction writer Octavia E.

They work outside the home only one day a week to avoid danger. Families huddle in walled neighbourhoods, keeping organized shift-watch during nights. A right-wing US presidential hopeful threatens the remaining comfort left to the privileged few, as widespread environmental devastation and economic collapse destabilize imperialist countries like Canada and the US.

Change octavia butler