Author Octavia E. Butler Honored with a Google Doodle Today - June 22, 2018

[Joe Kihara Munugu]

Octavia Butler Honored with a Google Doodle
Friday, June 22, 2018
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Google has honored the famed science fiction author Octavia Estelle Butler with her own Google Doodle today, June 22, 2018, which would have been the writer's 71st birthday. Butler, who died in 2006, was a prolific science fiction writer who received multiple Hugo and Nebula awards for her work. In 1995, the "Bloodchild" and "Parable" series author became the first of her genre to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, an award typically given those with "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits,"  according to a Google Doodle announcement.

"In a genre historically populated by only white male protagonists, Butler created characters that she, and millions of others, could identify with," Google Doodle representatives wrote. "She considered herself to have three central audiences — black readers, feminists, and fans of science fiction — and challenged herself to create a body of work that was accessible to all of them. While Butler faced institutional racism and segregation throughout her life, these experiences influenced her writing and thus shone a light on critical social issues."

Butler was born in Pasadena, California in 1947. A shy child with mild dyslexia and social anxiety, she discovered a love of science fiction at her local library. When Butler was 10, her mother bought her a typewriter, kindling her passion for writing, according to Google's announcement.

Octavia Butler spent the majority of her prolific career as the only major black female author of science fiction. Winner of both the Nebula and Hugo Awards as well as a MacArthur "genius" grant, the first for a science fiction writer, Butler created worlds that challenged notions of race, sex, gender, and humanity. Whether in the postapocalyptic 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.

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 even as she shows frustration with the constant question: "How does it feel to be the only one?" Whether discussing humanity's biological imperatives or the difference between science fiction and fantasy or the plight of the working poor in America, Butler emerges in these interviews as funny, intelligent, complicated, and intensely original.

Butler's family released the following statement in conjunction with today's Google Doodle: 

"Our family is grateful and honored by the opportunity to invoke the memory of Octavia E. Butler. Her uniqueness emerged at an early age when she expressed a strong interest in the written word. It was clear, even then, that Octavia had found her destiny—she decided to pursue a career as a professional writer.

"Her spirit of generosity and compassion compelled her to support the disenfranchised. She sought to speak truth to power, challenge prevailing notions and stereotypes, and empower people striving for better lives. Although we miss her, we celebrate the rich life she led and its magnitude in meaning.

"Today, on her birthday, it is with immense pride that we give tribute to Octavia for the magnificent gifts she bestowed upon all of us. Her legacy endures. As long as we speak her name, she lives."