An Octavia Butler Bibliography

Biographical | Interviews
Works
Literary Criticism | Awards | Internet Sites

Biographical

Octavia Estelle Butler, 1947 - 2006.

Born June 22, 1947, Pasadena, California.
Died, February 24, 2006, of a stroke or a head injury relating to a fall.
More biographical information at Voices from the Gaps: Octavia Butler, http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/BUTLERoctavia.html .

Awards

1995 MacArthur Award (the "genius" grant)
1994-95, nominated for Nebula, for Parable of the Sower (novel)
1984 Hugo Award for "Speech Sounds" short story
1985 Hugo Award for "Bloodchild" novella
1984 Nebula Award for "Bloodchild" novella

Interviews

• Fry, Joan. "An Interview with Octavia Butler." Poets & Writers v. 25, Mar/Apr 1997, p. 58-69.
• Johnson, Rebecca O. "African American Feminist Science Fiction." Sojourner v. 19, n. 6 (February 1994), pages 12-14. (includes interview with Octavia Butler)

Works

Xenogenesis Trilogy

Dawn (1987)
Adulthood Rites (1988)
Imago (1989)
trilogy republished as: Lilith's Brood (2000)

Patternist

Wild Seed (1980)
Mind of My Mind (1977)
Patternmaster (1976)
Clay's Ark (1984)
Survivor (1978)

Kindred (1979)

Parable

Parable of the Sower (1994) (nominated for a Nebula in 1994-95)
Parable of the Talents (1998) New York: Seven Stories Press. 1-888363-81-9.

"Speech Sounds"

appeared in Asimov's (December 1983). Won Hugo. Republished in Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995).

"Bloodchild"

appeared in Asimov's (June 1984); won 1984 Nebula for best novelette; won 1985 Hugo. Republished in Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995).

Bloodchild and Other Stories.

(Four Walls Eight Windows: New York, London, 1995).
Includes Preface, "Bloodchild" (1984); "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" (1987 / 1988); "Near of Kin" (1979); "Speech Sounds" (1983); "Crossover" (1971); and two essays: "Positive Obsession" (1989, as "Birth of a Writer"); "Furor Scribendi" (1993).

Literary Criticism

• Allison, Dorothy. "The Future of Female: Octavia Butler's Mother Lode." In Reading Black, Reading Feminist: A Critical Anthology, edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 471-78. New York: Meridian, 1990.
• Foster, Frances S. "Octavia Butler's Black Female Future Vision." Extrapolation 23 (1982): pages 37-49.
• Friend, Beverly. "Time Travel as a Feminist Didactic in Works by Phyllis Eisenstein, Marlys Millhiser, and Octavia butler." Extrapolation Volume 23, Number 1 (Spring 1982): pages 50-55.
• Gale Publishing. Octavia Butler's "Kindred": A Study Guide from Gale's "Novels for Students."; ISBN B00006G3KN. PDF format.
  --. Octavia Butler's "Bloodchild": A Study Guide from Gale's "Short Stories for Students."; ISBN B00006G3R6. PDF format.
• Govan, Sandra Y. Notable Black American Women. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1992.
• Johnson, Rebecca O. "African American Feminist Science Fiction." Sojourner v. 19, n. 6 (February 1994), pages 12-14. (includes interview with Octavia Butler)
• Lesniak, James G. Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series (v. 38). Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1993.
• Levy, Michael. "Green SF and Eco Feminism." Originally published in IAFA Newsletter, Spring 1989 issues. Reprinted in Robert Collins and Robert Latham, editors, Science Fiction and Fantasy book Review Annual, 1989 Edition (Westport, CN: Meckler, 1990). "Review article of recent work by Octavia Butler, Nancy Kress, Pamela Sargent, and Sheri S. Tepper" -- ML.
• Locher, Frances Carol. Contemporary Authors. (v. 73-76). Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1978.
• McTyre, Robert E. "Octavia Butler: Black America's first lady of science fiction." Michigan Chronicle, April 26, 1994, pp. PG.
• Raffel, Burton. "Genre to the Rear, Race and Gender to the Fore: The Novels of Octavia E. Butler." Literary Review, v.38, April 1, 1995, p. 454.
• Salvaggio, Ruth. "Octavia Butler and the Black Science Fiction Heroine." Black American Literature Forum. Volume 18, Number 2 (1984): pages 78-81.
• --, M. Barr, and R. Law. Suzy McKee Charnas: Octavia Butler: Joan D. Vinge. Mercer Island, Washington: Starmont, 1986. [Starmont Reader's Guide, No. 23.]
• Stevenson, Rosemary. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Pub., 1993, pp. 208-210.
• Zaki, Hoda. "Utopia, Dystopia, and Ideology in the Science Fiction of Octavia Butler." Science Fiction Studies Volume 17, Part 2 (1990): pages 239-251.