The University Press of Mississippi is publishing Conversations with Octavia Butler, edited by Conseula Francis. The book features interviews conducted with Butler between 1980 and 2004.
Publicist Emily Hubbard writes: “Whether in the post-apocalyptic future of the Parable stories, in the human inability to assimilate change and difference in the Xenogenesis books, or in the destructive sense of superiority in the Patternist series, Butler held up a mirror, reflecting what is beautiful, corrupt, worthwhile, and damning about the world we inhabit.
“A highly accomplished and decorated author, Butler has been awarded the Nebula and Hugo prizes, science fiction’s highest honors, as well as the first MacArthur ‘genius’ grant to be awarded to a science fiction writer.
“In interviews ranging from 1980 until just before her sudden death in 2006, Conversations with Octavia Butler reveals a writer very much aware of herself as the ‘rare bird’ of science fiction. But while her frustration with the constant ‘how does it feel to be the only one?’ [black female science fiction author] question is evident in these interviews, so too is her willingness to discuss the ideas and questions that drive her work.
“Whether discussing humanity’s biological imperatives or the difference between science fiction and fantasy or the plight of the working poor in America, Butler remains funny, intelligent, complicated, independent, and intensely original.”
Editor Conseula Francis is an associate professor of English and the director of African American studies at the College of Charleston.