DemiCon 14 was wonderful
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Guests - Writer

Our writer guest of honor for DemiCon 14 is the wonderful and talented Octavia E. Butler. Known best for her books in the Xenogenesis series, she has also written seven other novels and won two Hugos and Nebulas. She is highly respected, for her work is not your standard science fiction fare, but also explores issues such as gender roles, racism, social stratification, and ethical uses of technology. A brief conversation with her follows, and excerpts of her work are available.

NEW On January 22, 2003, Octavia published a story online at scifi.com. Go and read it now!

DemiCon 14
May 2, 3, & 4, 2003
Hotel Fort Des Moines

1. Who is Octavia E. Butler? Where is she headed? Where has she been?
Who am I? I am a 53-year-old writer who can remember being a 10-year-old writer and who expects to someday be an 80-year-old writer. I'm comfortable asocial--a hermit living in a large city--a pessimist if I'm not careful; a student, endlessly curious; a feminist; an African American; a former Baptist; and an oil and water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive.

2. What have you written?
Novels, short stories, and essays. I've had 11 novels published so far. They are PATTERNMASTER, MIND OF MY MIND, SURVIVOR, KINDRED, WILD SEED, CLAY'S ARK, DAWN, ADULTHOOD RITES, IMAGO, PARABLE OF THE SOWER, and PARABLE OF THE TALENTS. PARABLE OF THE TALENTS won a Nebula award as best novel of 2000. I've also had published a book of short fiction and nonfiction called BLOODCHILD AND OTHER STORIES. One story in this collection, "Speech Sounds," won a Hugo award as best short story of 1984. The title story, "Bloodchild", won both the 1985 Hugo and the 1984 Nebula awards as best novelette. And, speaking of awards, in the summer of 1995, I received a MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in October 2000, I received a "Lifetime Achievement Award" in writing from PEN.

3. What were you educational preparations for a writing career?
I graduation from Pasadena City College in 1968 (Pasadena is my home town). Then I attended California State University, Los Angeles. I also took a few extension classes at UCLA. 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).

Excerpts Online


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Certain images used with permission of Lubov
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