Talk:Octavia E. Butler

message: the 1977 work is described as a sequel to the 1980 work
Strictly speaking, Wild Seed (1980) is a prequel to Mind of my Mind (1977)
* I agree that the language could be clearer.  For example, calling Patternmaster the fifth in the series could also be confusing.  Naq (talk) 04:42, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: 1977 / 1980 prequel/sequle

message: While surfing the web came across this quote on SciFi.com:
* Octavia Butler: "I graduated from Pasadena City College in 1968 (Pasadena is my hometown). Then I attended CalikjnCLA. But the most valuable help I received with my writing came from two workshops. The first was the Open Door Program of the Screen Writers' Guild of America, West (1969-70). The second was Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop (1970)."
:* From the WGA, West web site, the Open Door program "was designed to mentor Latino and African-American writers".
From the web site of the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of African American History and Culture:
* Her birth name is Octavia Estelle Butler.
* She was born in Pasadena, California.
* In October 2000, received a lifetime achievement award in writing from PEN.
* Won two Nebula Award for Parable Of The Talents (2000 best novel) and for Bloodchild (1984 best novelette).
* Won two Hugo Award for Speech Sounds (1984 best short story) and for Bloodchild (1984 best novelette).  --Tony Hecht 01:03, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Dyslexia relates to difficulties with reading/writing, not difficulties with having a wonderful imagination.  Thus, I feel that there's no conflict.  Also, I haven't found where Butler discusses her dyslexia, so it might be hard to find sourced material to add.  Naq 01:34, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Items that should be included  

message: I've just made new articles for the Patternist series, Xenogenesis and Parable books.  For the most part, I've just copied the material from this article on each series and created three new articles around it.  I hope others with an interest in Octavia Butler will help expand and improve these pages.  My intention, if no one objects, is to remove most of the plot summary information about these books from Butler's own page and just have it located on the subsidiary articles.
I'm also considering merging the Oankali and Ooloi pages into the Xenogenesis article--if you have a feeling about this one way or the other, please post on the Talk:Oankali page. Nareek 05:22, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  New articles for Butler works 

message: FYI, on reading the article it seemd to me that Novels and Other Fiction should really be treated as subheadings of Bibliography (they were all orginally at the same heading level).  I assume no one will have any trouble with me making them subheadings, but if they do please let me know.  I don't want to step on any toes.  --KNHaw 23:26, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Changed Headings 

message: It has struck me for decades that Butler's approach to writing in the "sci-fi" genre was distinctly African/African-American.  The tradition is very African, fundamentally.  It has to do with psychic, intrinsic, spiritual, supernatural powers -- metaphysics -- rather than the external, the technological, mechanical and material/physical (dream hardware/cyberware) which is more the approach taken by European/neo-European (read white) writers (spaceships, etc.)  I've seen this among other writers, in their approach to the fantastic, as well:  Toni Cade Bambara in The Salt Eaters; Gloria Naylor in Mama Day; Walter Flowers' De Mojo Blues; Toni Morrison's initial (IMO incredibly weak - I can't believe I'm criticizing a Pulitzer Prize/Nobel Award winner, but, hey, I am; "lickety split, lickety split": what the hell?) foray into the genre, Tar Baby and, later, the more successful/adept Beloved; Walter Mosley's Blue Light; Jewell Parker Rhodes' Voodoo Dreams a novel on the life of Marie Laveaux; and most particularly possibly in the work of Sophia Stewart (the African-American woman who has laid claim to the story/concept, a short story called "The Third Eye," behind The Matrix trilogy).  I wasn't at all surprised, frankly, when she stepped forward.  When I saw the first film, I was struck by how African in perspective it was.  I remember, in fact, saying out loud that the Oracle had better be black, or the movie was bull****.  I wasn't disappointed. :p  I haven't followed the story behind Stewart's legal battles at all and just took a break from writing this to do some quick research.  The case seemingly has been dropped.  So, who the heck knows.  The Wachowski brothers seem pretty sleazy from what I've read of them -- but that doesn't mean they aren't creative.
I don't know if any literary critic of note has done an analysis of the African/African-American approach to fantasy writing, but Octavia Butler is at once part of a solid tradition among her fellow African American authors and singular among them.  Deeceevoice 19:09, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: On an African/African-American approach to sci-fi/fantasy

message: Just want to note for the record that "Octavia Butler" gets more than twice as many Google hits as "Octavia E. Butler". Seems like something that could have been discussed first. Nareek 18:17, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Perhaps people doing Google searches tend to minimise and abbreviate search terms. Language used in Google searches is unlikely to be a good basis for factual presentation.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.164.43.98 (talk) 09:30, 3 March 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Octavia Butler vs. Octavia E. Butler 

message: I have slightly re-organized.  Amongst the changes, I have removed the obituary links.  It would fine to cite an obituary or two where the facts of her passing are recounted, and of course obituary's are rich sources for citing to for the many facts of her life.
To preserve the data for easy access, should someone want to read through them to find more important facts to include, here are the obituary links:
*Obituary: Octavia E. Butler, 58, science fiction writer - International Herald Tribune
*Technology News: Octavia Butler - Metroactive news
*Octavia Butler, 1947-2006: Sci-fi writer a gifted pioneer in white, male domain - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
*Octavia Butler, brilliant master of sci-fi, dies at 58 - Seattle Times
* Octavia Butler: Black science fiction writer breaking barriers in America  - Guardian Unlimited
*Sci-Fi Author Octavia Butler Dies - NPR
*Octavia Butler, A Lonely, Bright Star Of the Sci-Fi Universe - Washington Post
*Octavia Butler: The outsider who changed science fiction - Slate
*Octavia Butler, 58; penned own path in science-fiction - Boston Globe
*Science fiction writer Octavia Butler dies - USA Today
*Oh Octavia - Annalee Newitz, AlterNet
Cka3n 07:59, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Slight re-organization 

message: Octavia described herself in the quote included in the article as a former Baptist. The :Category:Baptists self-describes as "Baptists are Christian people who believe and follow Baptist theology. Most belong to various Baptist denominations." To my understanding, this does not accurately describe Octavia Butler. I'm going to remove the category unless some discussion persuades me otherwise (and is properly documented in the article). (added) --lquilter 18:47, 13 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  baptist category? 

message: The following link is broken:
    * A Few Rules For Predicting The Future - science-fiction author Octavia E. Butler - Essence (magazine)
Fholson 11:12, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  broken link 

message: The source for Samuel R. Delany as an influence seems weak.  Did Butler herself ever claim this?  In "Racism in Science Fiction" Delany says: 
::"Now Butler is a gracious, intelligent, and wonderfully impressive writer. But if she were a jot less great-hearted than she is, she might very well wonder: “Why, when you invite me, do you always invite that guy, Delany?”
::The fact is, while it is always a personal pleasure to appear with her, Butler and I are very different writers, interested in very different things. And because I am the one who benefits by this highly artificial generalization of the literary interest in Butler’s work into this in-many-ways-artificial interest in African-American science fiction...
::With all the attention that has come on her in the last years, Butler has been careful (and accurate) in not claiming that I am any sort of influence on her. I have never written specifically about her work. Nor, as far as I know, has she ever mentioned me in print."
Delany appears to outright deny influencing Butler, and the citation for his influence in the article appears to be merely that he taught her Clarion workshop and helped her with her writing.  Not the same thing as being one of her major literary influences!
Is the reason for his listing merely that they so often appeared together, which he appears to attribute to the subtle racism of lumping all the African-American SF writers together?
Their respective styles don't seem all that alike to me.  I'm wondering if there is any better citation for his influence or if it should be removed?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.144.246.5 (talk) 19:02, 13 September 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: The article as it is doesn't cite an influence, but does imply it given the location of the mention of Delany.  I'm fine with taking out that mention, especially since it is not within the citation that it would appear to be in according to the article. Dkreisst (talk) 19:15, 13 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Influenced By... 

message: Butler was one of the best-known women in the field
In what respect? This is a subjective assessment, without reference or justification. Of the 53 women in the field's authoritative guide to awards, Butler is 23rd in total wins and nominations. One-sixth the tally of Le Guin, the field's most-honored woman. Respectable, but not enough to warrant the lead paragraph's description. (There are other measures of notability than awards, but others are either not objective or hard to verify.)
Enoent (talk) 23:39, 16 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  best-known? 

message: Why are not these authors listed, so that we can know who they are? 
74.229.102.208 (talk) 00:33, 17 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Because assertions like that must be sourced. If Joan Notablewriter said in an interview in Janus or Trap Door that Butler influenced her writing, then it could go in the article; otherwise, not. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:40, 17 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Her writing has influenced a number of prominent authors 

message: While reading the Kindred wikipedia page on suggestion I can give to the writer is to fix certains facts about the book use capilizations, revise for grammar and punctuation and fix the run-on sentences.Watoflifej23 (talk) 14:50, 17 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: It would probably be more useful to make that suggestion on the talk page of that article. --Orange Mike | Talk 01:00, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

text: Oh, the irony.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.164.43.98 (talk) 09:26, 3 March 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Biography errors  

message: Jaflemin (talk) 19:42, 19 October 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I will get on it, Jaflemin (talk). I will begin by (slowly) cleaning up the External Links and moving from there. :-) --DrX (talk) 20:21, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pictures, detail, and praise 

message: [Note: These sections have been started for students; these will be organized afterward.--Mozucat (talk) 19:55, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Suggestions for improvements to entry from Fall 2015 ENG103 class at LaGuardia 

message: ==== Team 1 ====
She was influenced by her family ( Mother and Grandmother) when it came down to the hardships of being a black woman of thed times. Stories that included heavily on her works referencing her mother are Wild Seed. 
Her mother’s maiden name is Octavia Margaret Guy (Gant-Britton), she worked as a maid and when she finished working, she used to bring home books from the trash of her work. (Positive Obsession)
She graduated John Muir High School before she attended college (Gant-Britton)
Since when she was three she learned that she was more interested in knowing others and discovering who they are and why they are.(The oprah magazine) 
Might be relevant to mention her first award in a high school writing competition at age 18 (Gant-Britton)
What about all the odd jobs she worked while struggling as a writer?  Factory, clerical, warehouse work.  She called them “terrible little jobs” (Gant-Britton). 
She received many rejection slips before she first published, which was in 1971, an important fact to mention (“Crossover,” a short story). (Gant-Britton)
She was reflectant on how things could have been different in her life. In Rowell’s interview  with Butler she said that she wondered on how her life would have been different if her mother had continued her education, and not get pulled out of school  at a young age. She was as reflectant on is she would have been different if any of her siblings had survived. 
In writing Kindred she developed the general idea for it from a young black man from the Black Power Movement saying “ I’d kill all these old people who have been holding us back for so long. But I can’t because I’d have to start with my own parents.” Holding on to this comment for thirty years she implied sexism by for “rules of submission” would et men killed off in her stories and the women alive.
At the age of 23 she sold her first 2 short stories to writer-editors who were teaching at Clarion. (Positive Obsession)
She won a Locus award. (Pfeiffer)
References 1-11 issues 
part about racial and sexual ambiguity needs a citation. (between 8 & 9)
Reference #2’s link doesn’t even work. Here’s the actual link: http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/octavia-butler-science-fiction-writer
Reference #5 is someones essay which is not a very good source to use. 
Our references:
(1,,8,9) https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/callaloo/v020/20.1butler.html - Mazuyuki Eizoku
(2, 3, 5, 6, 7) Gant-Britton, Lisbeth. "Butler, Octavia (1947– )." African American Writers. Ed. Valerie Smith. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 95-110. Gale Virtual 
Literature Collection. -Lagccstudent
(4) Butler, Octavia E. "Octavia Butler's Aha! Moment." O, The Oprah Magazine. May 2002. Oprah.com. Web. 03 Mar. 2015. -Divergentforever
(11) Pfeiffer, John R. "Butler, Octavia Estelle (b. 1947)." Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Ed. Richard Bleiler. 2nd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. 147-158. Gale Virtual Literature Collection. -Princessmishell
(10)  Butler, Octavia E. "Positive Obsession." Bloodchild and Other Stories. New York : Seven Stories, 2005. 123-136.-andyyecua
--Lagccstudent (talk) 20:07, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Life and education

message: She was influenced by her family ( Mother and Grandmother) when it came down to the hardships of being a black woman of thed times. Stories that included heavily on her works referencing her mother are Wild Seed. 
Her mother’s maiden name is Octavia Margaret Guy (Gant-Britton), she worked as a maid and when she finished working, she used to bring home books from the trash of her work. (Positive Obsession)
She graduated John Muir High School before she attended college (Gant-Britton)
Since when she was three she learned that she was more interested in knowing others and discovering who they are and why they are.(The oprah magazine) 
Might be relevant to mention her first award in a high school writing competition at age 18 (Gant-Britton)
What about all the odd jobs she worked while struggling as a writer?  Factory, clerical, warehouse work.  She called them “terrible little jobs” (Gant-Britton). 
She received many rejection slips before she first published, which was in 1971, an important fact to mention (“Crossover,” a short story). (Gant-Britton)
She was reflectant on how things could have been different in her life. In Rowell’s interview  with Butler she said that she wondered on how her life would have been different if her mother had continued her education, and not get pulled out of school  at a young age. She was as reflectant on is she would have been different if any of her siblings had survived. 
In writing Kindred she developed the general idea for it from a young black man from the Black Power Movement saying “ I’d kill all these old people who have been holding us back for so long. But I can’t because I’d have to start with my own parents.” Holding on to this comment for thirty years she implied sexism by for “rules of submission” would et men killed off in her stories and the women alive.
At the age of 23 she sold her first 2 short stories to writer-editors who were teaching at Clarion. (Positive Obsession)
She won a Locus award. (Pfeiffer)
References 1-11 issues 
part about racial and sexual ambiguity needs a citation. (between 8 & 9)
Reference #2’s link doesn’t even work. Here’s the actual link: http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/octavia-butler-science-fiction-writer
Reference #5 is someones essay which is not a very good source to use. 
Our references:
(1,,8,9) https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/callaloo/v020/20.1butler.html - Mazuyuki Eizoku
(2, 3, 5, 6, 7) Gant-Britton, Lisbeth. "Butler, Octavia (1947– )." African American Writers. Ed. Valerie Smith. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 95-110. Gale Virtual 
Literature Collection. -Lagccstudent
(4) Butler, Octavia E. "Octavia Butler's Aha! Moment." O, The Oprah Magazine. May 2002. Oprah.com. Web. 03 Mar. 2015. -Divergentforever
(11) Pfeiffer, John R. "Butler, Octavia Estelle (b. 1947)." Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Ed. Richard Bleiler. 2nd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. 147-158. Gale Virtual Literature Collection. -Princessmishell
(10)  Butler, Octavia E. "Positive Obsession." Bloodchild and Other Stories. New York : Seven Stories, 2005. 123-136.-andyyecua
--Lagccstudent (talk) 20:07, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Team 1 

message: 1) Mother’s Influence on her early life should be added. - P.O. 
2) Her social struggles help facilitate her radical themes in her literature.  - Robert W. Logan
3) The way she self identified was not proper described. - John Pfeiffer
4) Mr Pfaff encouragement helped boost her confidence at a vulnerable age. - P.O.
5) Didn’t include the fact that she actually gave back to those who helped her become the person she was.  - John Pfeiffer.
6) Held a different point of view from most of society. - The Oprah Magazine
References - Link Modify (Correct Links)
(2) - http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/octavia-butler-science-fiction-writer
(4) - http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/butlerOctavia.php
--Santuros (talk) 19:57, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Team 2 

message: Estebanvrgs09, Purplelover0516, NeverFall_MVR, Dr.Droog
Group 3
Octavia Butler
1. Butler’s aunt didn't believe that she would be able to become a writer because of her social status and gender, not to mention race. (PO)
2. Butler mother had four boys that died before Octavia was born.(PO)
3. Butler’s mother was pulled out of school and put to work at a plantation when she was young to support her family because she was the oldest daughter, while her oldest brother, got to attend school.( Rowell pg 50)
4. Butler appreciated the struggles her Grandmother and mother  went through in order to support her. She used that as inspiration and motivation to fuel her passion for writing. (Rowell pg51)
5. Kindred (1979) is based on an experience she had with a young black classmate who did not share her appreciation for the generational struggle his people had been through when he stated to her, “I’d like to kill all these
old people who have been holding us back for so long. But I can't because I’d have to start with my own parents”. (Rowell pg 51)
References:
(1) Has to be removed: Website cited (Beacon Press) is a publisher & offers scarce information on author apart from book prices
 
(2) http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/octavia-butler-science-fiction-writer
(3) Has to be removed because the link sends user to a teacher’s syllabus
 
(4) Need to be changed to this link for a more specific website http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/butlerOctavia.php
(7)Needs to be changed to this link to a more speicifc website  http://www.salon.com/2006/03/17/butler_3/ 
(11) Website Title: Issuu
Article Title: Locus #543 (April 2006)
Date Accessed: March 13, 2015
http://issuu.com/locus/docs/locus__543__april_2006_    P. 7
NeverFall MVR (talk) 20:11, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Team 3 

message: OwenZeph:
In Life and Education the fact that her mother gave her books to read all the time was not included and that the genre for these book were mostly fantasy which gave her an interest in science fiction.(John Pfeiffer) Also even though she is very shy she was also bullied which made her want to stay to herself and write.(P.O.)
The first couple of times that she had submitted short stories they had all been rejected. When she was a freshmen in college she won first prize in a school wide short story contest that was meant for older and more experienced writers(P.O.) It was mentioned that she was in the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop but what they didn’t mention was that, that is where she sold her first two Short Stories at the age of twenty-three but only one got published, after that she hadn’t sold another piece of work for 5 years. (P.O.) Her works have received many major writing and achievement awards in and out of the science fiction field. (John Pfeiffer) She received an Associates of Arts degree at Pasadena City College, but then later denies that she received a degree. (John Pfeiffer)
Japanize_myself:
→In life and education section, we should change that Octavia was seven years old when her father died from excessive food and drink (Gant-Britton).  
→Octavia mother was born and raised in Louisiana along with strict racial segregation (Positive Obsession).
→Octavia’s mother worked as a “maid” should be switched to “domestic worker” because it sounds much better.  
→In the second paragraph of the same section  we should include that Octavia began “pecking out stories two-fingered” on an old-fashioned typewriter that her mother had purchased (Gant-Britton) when young Octavia wanted to escape from boredom.  
→In the third paragraph, “After getting an associate’s degree from Pasadena City College…” we should add that it was a degree in History (Gant-Britton).
→In the paragraph where mentions that Octavia moved to Washington, the fact that she moved to another state after her mother passed away (Gant-Britton).
→We should include Octavia’s minor discouragement from her aunt when she was told that “negroes can’t be writers” (Positive Obsession).
Apache50
-at her age 58 she was suffering from hypertension and from other health problems for years before her death.(logan)
-there should be some information on what changed her perspective towards how she looked at life ( butler)
NajahLovesPink :
Life and education :
-Butler would of had four other siblings but unfortunately her mother had three miscarriages and one of the four siblings died at birth. This could of been very problematic and traumatic for someone growing up in a time of racism,segregation  and poverty. This could have taken a toll on her self esteem. (Pfeiffer)     
-Octavia’s ambition really began at a young age, the public library in her hometown was her    second home at the age of six. (P.O)
Accomplishments: 
Butler worked at various blue- collar jobs and got up early hours to practice her craft. Her first novel was published in 1976 published by doubleday, Patternmaster. (Logan)
She had 5 successful Patternmaster series novels published merely back to back: Patternmaster (1976), Mind of My Mind(1977), Survivor (1978), Wild Seed (1980), Clay’s Ark (1984) (Robert W. Logan)
Beautiful Soul22:--Beautiful Soul22 (talk) 20:19, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Team 4 

message: Octavia Butler Birth of A Writer Butler, O.E. "Birth Of A Writer." Essence (Essence) 20.1 (1989): 74. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
Robert W Logan Octavia Butler Biography Logan, Robert W. "Butler, Octavia E." Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Oxford: Oxford U P, 2005. Oxford Reference. 2005.
Unconsciouseclecticism (talk) 20:03, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Works Cited 

message: ==== Team 3 ====
NajahLovesPink 
Octavia Estelle Butler, She also focused on themes such as power, power fantasy, love, longevity/ immortality, apocalypse, hubris, addiction, genetics, social engineer, myth, pain and ecology. She was widely ranged in science fiction and not limited to Afrofuturism.(John)--NajahLovesPink (talk) 20:17, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Notability and themes

message: NajahLovesPink 
Octavia Estelle Butler, She also focused on themes such as power, power fantasy, love, longevity/ immortality, apocalypse, hubris, addiction, genetics, social engineer, myth, pain and ecology. She was widely ranged in science fiction and not limited to Afrofuturism.(John)--NajahLovesPink (talk) 20:17, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Team 3 

message: In the THEMES OF SOCIAL CRITICISM, we need to correct Octavia of being Afrofuturistic to really not much of being one because she includes many characters of different races.Kilgore, De Witt Douglas and Ranu Samantrai. "A Memorial to Octavia E. Butler." Science Fiction Studies 37.3 (November 2010): 353-361.
Include the fact that she was a feminist science fiction author.Grace McEntee. “Octavia Butler ( 1947-2006).” Writing African American Women: An Encyclopedia of Literature by and about Women of Color. Ed. Elizabeth Beaulieu. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2006.
Add that fact that she was also interest in themes with the human development and the interaction on a sociocultural plane.Gant-Britton, Lisbeth. "Butler, Octavia (1947– )." African American Writers. Ed. Valerie Smith. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 95-110. Gale Virtual Literature Collection.
“...the Science Fiction Research Association, the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts, and the Modern Language Association show continued interest in evaluating the content and influence of her work. This activity indicates that she became an essential part to science fiction.” Kilgore, De Witt Douglas and Ranu Samantrai. "A Memorial to Octavia E. Butler." Science Fiction Studies 37.3 (November 2010): 353-361.
Butler’s tales “are not simple future-history scenarios extrapolating utopian solutions to contemporary troubles. Her narratives can be grim and are often tragic.” Kilgore, De Witt Douglas and Ranu Samantrai. "A Memorial to Octavia E. Butler." Science Fiction Studies 37.3 (November 2010): 353-361. 
We need to include that she was the first to imagine a future with minority groups and giving the protagonist role to strong females. Logan, Robert W. "Butler, Octavia E." Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Oxford: Oxford U P, 2005. Oxford Reference. 2005.
The topics of her stories were not only to draw parallels with a black experience, rather to be transgressive, colorblind and applicable to all human or non human beings.“Butler, Octavia 1947-2006.” Black Literature Criticism: Classic and Emerging Authors since 1950. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. 2nd ed. Vol.1. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 244-258. Gale Virtual Literature Collection. 
Include the fact that she hated to be pigeonholed as a genre writer. While themes such as slavery and race were highly important, by only mentioning these we are neglecting and ignoring the humongous range of themes that her stories include, for example future of humanity in general, incest, genetic modification and all the moral imperative that they represent. Logan, Robert W. "Butler, Octavia E." Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Oxford: Oxford U P, 2005. Oxford Reference. 2005.
The word ancient in the first line of the paragraph about social themes is odd, the themes that Octavia Butler writes about are mostly contemporary.
Rather than explain her work as “hyperbolic reach of speculative fiction”, we  can explain that her work is mostly influenced by personal experiences, subjective to the author mixed with fiction.  
Since the paragraph is about social criticism is highly important to remark that by the time she started writing, she was the only female African American science fiction author, and inside the genre she was one of the fewest. This is important because this experiences shaped the way she wrote her stories.“Butler, Octavia 1947-2006.” Black Literature Criticism: Classic and Emerging Authors since 1950. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. 2nd ed. Vol.1. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 244-258. Gale Virtual Literature Collection.
--Japanize myself (talk) 20:08, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Team 1 

message: Octavia Estelle Butler is an award winning novelist, essayist and short story writer who have challenged the gender roles, women and people of color in the future. 
She won the hugo Nebula and Locus awards and 295,000 MacArthur fellowship. 
Instead of categorizing Butler’s genre as afro-futuristic, she has portrayed a multicultural setting including characters from different color and race.
She was a feminist and It heavily influenced her protagonist
Many of her characters had complex and personalities that were nurturer, healers, conciliator and black womenshe focused on ethnic and sexual prejudices
She did not experience segregation throughout her life. She never went to a segregated school nor lived in a segregated neighborhood; hence the unimportance of a segregated sci-fi setting when putting her characters together.
“Butler’s body of work spans multiple genres of science, speculative, and feminist fiction and examines host of interrelating themes She addresses science fiction’s concern with the implications of technology.”
“Butler herself said that she was responsible for three audiences: there called the science fiction audience, Black audience and the Feminism Audience”- Potts 72
Butler aims to attract an adult audience talking deliberately about sex, dominance and submission, the master and the slave. rape is a constant danger in the nicest relationships among the characters. 
Mazuyuki Eizoku (talk) 19:58, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Team 4 

message: She did not only use afrofuturistic communities, she was also interested in mixed communities in her stories. 
She introduced female characters  of color to the main role in science fiction writing.
She is one of the few authors who reached a significant non-genre audience. 
She was responsible for the science fiction, black, and feminist audience.
She mostly wrote about tragedies and even though her work seemed hopefully for human prospect she was never sentimental,a lot of her work centers on her bleak yet hopeful vision of humanity’s future.
In the design of her characters she used a sociobiological background for them, they stemmed from mutation or encounters with other kinds of beings. 
Butler makes readers reevaluate long-standing attitudes with her “implied treatment of sexual and racial prejudice and the direct treatment of social power structures”
“Butler’s fiction reflects and refracts the attempts- and failures-of the twentieth century to deal with ethnic and sexual prejudice”(Butler, American ethnic Writers” She normally creates images of horror so that the reader cannot see the individual that is being described as human.
“Her stories are told from the the first or third person perspective of someone who is passive or disfranchised” (Logan,Robert)
Much of her work stems from her study of physical science and studies of human behavior, through her work she expresses the idea that humanity has to learn to adapt and coexist with microorganisms. 
She was one of the few science fiction writers who didn’t write about heros, her protagonists did not need to save other only themselves. 
Work Cited
Gant-Britton, Lisbeth. "Butler, Octavia (1947– )." African American Writers. Ed. Valerie Smith. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 95-110. Gale Virtual Literature Collection.
Kilgore, De Witt Douglas and Ranu Samantrai. "A Memorial to Octavia E. Butler."Science Fiction Studies 37.3 (November 2010): 353-361
Pfeiffer, John R. "Butler, Octavia Estelle (b. 1947)." Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Ed. Richard Bleiler. 2nd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. 147-158. Gale Virtual Literature Collection.
Logan, Robert W. "Butler, Octavia E." Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Oxford: Oxford U P, 2005. Oxford Reference. 2005
"Butler, Octavia E." American Ethnic Writers, Revised ed. Vol. 1. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2009. 168-175. Gale Virtual Literature Collection. 
OwenZeph (talk) 20:00, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Team 2 

message: Themes of Social Criticism Revision 
Team 5: Dr.Droog, james.johnson21 , andyyecua
“I write about people who do extraordinary things. It just happens to be science fiction.” (Octavia Butler: 1997 interview with Joan Fry)
1.Neo-Slave Narrative/ Master Slave Dialectics/ Colonization and Imperialism
The psychological and societal consequences for both oppressor and oppressed (dominant and submissive), and challenge racial hierarchy.
“...a historically enfranchised class has controlled the bodies and destinies of peoples considered inferior.” (Kilgore, Samantrai “Memorial to Octavia Butler” p.355) 
“Butler’s portrayal of the loner of science and adventure fiction is giving depth and complexity by the implied treatment of sexual and racial prejudices and the direct treatment of social power structures”. (John Pfeiffer “Octavia Estelle Butler”)
2.Utopianism
“Where is there a society in which  men and women are honestly considered equal? What would it be like to live in such a society? Where do people not despise each other because of race or religion, class or ethnic origin?” (Octavia Butler: 1979 interview with Veronica Mixon) 
Challenges the idea of Utopianism 
3.”Cyborg- Feminism”/ Feminism -  Challenges focus on white male protagonist and of familiar gender hierarchy. 
“Readers for whom science fiction is an adventure in which the white, male hero saves humanity (most often in the form of a scantily clad woman) will find in Butler’s work a challenge to generic conventions” (Kilgore, Samantrai “Memorial to Octavia Butler” p.355) 
Gave birth to female protagonists inside science fiction stories
4.Genetic/Biological Engineering (Sociobiology);  Contact; Miscegenation and Contamination (“Catastrophe of sex”)
Forced evolution 
Rape 
“If humanity as a whole is subject to the fear of bodily violation and exploitation, In butlers futures is the black woman who have the longest familiarity with it. Such unfortunate experts know  the best strategies for survival.” (Kilgore, Samantrai “Memorial to Octavia Butler” p.355) 
“The trope of a radically, sometimes violently, remade homo sapiens, altered either due to its own mutations or as a consequence of its encounters with other kinds of beings…” (Kilgore, Samantrai “Memorial to Octavia Butler” p.355) 
Potential and danger of medicine 
In the Xenogenesis trilogy (Patternmaster series), cancer becomes a genetic tool with the potential to mutate certain a number of humans
6.Apocalyptic Future 
“...an increasingly posthuman society.” (Lisbeth Gant-Britton p.97) 
“She does not envision a liberal-pluralist federation in which heterogeneity of the whole shields homogeneity of the parts. Nor is the result the mixed blessed community” 
“ A relentlessly brutal and almost hopeless future, based on extrapolation of the most alarming and destructive trends visible in contemporary society” (John Pfeiffer “Octavia Estelle Butler” p.148)
7. Ethics/ Morality/ Humanity 
Butler’s fiction reflects and refracts the attempts and failures of the twentieth century to deal with ethnic and sexual prejudice. (Pfeiffer “Octavia Butler” p.148)
8. Violence 
9. Point of view characters
10. Agency vs. Destiny 
Dr.Droog (talk) 20:11, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Team 5 

message: Octavia Butler’s novels usually deals with futuristic ideas that lead to frightening danger of science and medicine and how they contribute to the downfall of society. Although Butler gets into medicine and the effect of science, she also makes sure she focuses more on the character developments. Making sure that her characters act like actual human beings. In some of her work Butler focuses on her characters dealing with the failed of technology and politics on individuals,families, and communities in the U.S. Butler also explores other ideological responses to those potential crisis. Due to the fact that Butler doesn't just focus on science fiction, it is best to categorize her work as speculative fiction, because her works deals with science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary non realistic fiction, or in other words known as fabulation. Butler focuses her writing on the fantasy and futuristic aspects and the darker, yet also more down to earth feel. Butler’s work usually consist of the factors that technology plays, making some points beneficial and other destructive. For instance she gets into the human relations to disease, genetics, and medicine and how these features may impact the advancement on the evolution of the human race. - Octavia Butler,Lisbeth Gant -Britton
--Santuros (talk) 20:04, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Contribution to Speculative Fiction 

message: Here are the links I moved from external links that other teams may use in their other sections later.
* Bibliography from Feminist Sci Fi Utopia
* Octavia Butler Collection at The Huntington Library; includes manuscripts, correspondence, school papers, notebooks, photographs, and other materials
* "Devil Girl From Mars": Why I Write Science Fiction, MIT Media in Transition Project, October 4, 1998
* Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship, administered by the Carl Brandon Society
Mazuyuki Eizoku (talk) 18:37, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Links needed for the text of the article 

message: Not the list of interviews, which can later be moved to a page on Butler's works, but the section on Butler being interviewed by Charlie Rose and later by Randall Kenan. In the first passage, the inference made does not follow from the quote, and the second passage merely repeats information better explained in the article for Butler's Kindred.--DrX (talk) 12:49, 19 June 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, here is the section. Will start work on apportioning the information. --DrX (talk) 15:28, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Remove "Interviews" section? 

message: Did she ever finish the bachelor's degree at UCLA?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.112.128.15 (talk) 00:46, 12 March 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: I do not believe so--the biographical sources would indicate something that importantDrX (talk) 03:29, 12 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Education 

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