This month’s It’s Lit! covers Octavia E Butler.
The most interesting part of this particular video for me isn’t about Octavia Butler. It’s about what I did after watching it.
Let’s face it, her novels sound really interesting. It feels wrong to use the term “fresh voice” for an author who went pro before I was born. But that’s what I thought when her work was being described.
So I logged onto my library e-reading app. Nothing.
I logged onto my local library catalogue. Nothing.
Okay. Don’t panic. Check the state library catalogue and get the local library to request it… Nothing.
Wait, let’s revise that search for all libraries in the state, not just the main library. Ah, success!
Literally. We have a suburb named Success and their library has a copy of Parable of the Sower. That ordering it from Success probably also means the pages have been dipped in meth and I’ll be able to read it in an hour is probably a bonus.
The point I’m making is one I’ve made about several non-cis-het-white-guy authors. It seems common for them to be less available to read. This is annoying. How can we discover new and exciting authors if they aren’t in libraries and stores?
But sure, keep plenty of Dan Brown books on the shelves.
If you are a fan of science fiction a name you should be familiar with is Octavia E. Butler (cough especially if you watched our telly award-winning Afro-Futurism video cough) One of the most prolific and important Black authors in the genre, Butler’s storytelling pushed the boundaries of what Black people were allowed to be in science fiction. Today we will be highlighting the Grand Dame herself, how her novels were important, and sometimes, oddly predictive.
Hosted by Lindsay Ellis and Princess Weekes, It’s Lit! is a show about our favorite books, genres and why we love to read. It’s Lit has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.
Tyson Adams 