The Huntington, www.huntington.org, located in San Marino, California, is "A private, nonprofit institution. The Huntington was founded in 1919 by Henry E. Huntington..."
Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006)
John Malveaux of
writes:
The Huntington presents the first major exhibition on the life of award-winning author Octavia E. Butler. See http://www.huntington.org/octaviabutler/
Octavia E. Butler: Telling My Stories
A new exhibition opening this spring examines the life and work of
celebrated author Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006), the first science
fiction writer to receive a prestigious MacArthur “genius” award and the
first African American woman to win widespread recognition writing in
that genre. Butler’s literary archive resides at The Huntington.
“She was a pioneer, a master storyteller who brought her voice—the
voice of a woman of color—to science fiction,” said Natalie Russell,
assistant curator of literary manuscripts at The Huntington and curator
of the exhibition. “Tired of stories featuring white, male heroes, she
developed an alternative narrative from a very personal point of view.”
Butler, a Pasadena, Calif., native, told the New York Times
in a 2000 interview: “When I began writing science fiction, when I began
reading, heck, I wasn’t in any of this stuff I read. The only black
people you found were occasional characters or characters who were so
feeble-witted that they couldn’t manage anything, anyway. I wrote myself
in, since I’m me and I’m here and I’m writing.”
The exhibition follows a roughly chronological thread and includes
approximately 100 items that reveal the writer’s early years and
influences. It also highlights specific themes that repeatedly commanded
her attention. Butler was born June 22, 1947, to a maid and a shoeshine
man. Her father died when she was quite young. An only child, she
discovered writing very early because it suited her shy nature. The
exhibition will feature samples of her earliest stories.
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