Insighting and Foresighting: The Extraordinary Prescience of Octavia Butler

A Conversation with adrienne maree brown and Ayana Jamieson

It is apparent that Octavia E. Butler has been showing us the future with uncanny accuracy.  She showed us the consequences of depleting our natural resources, she wrote about the effects of Climate Change, the uneven wrath of pandemics on communities of color, she understood the systemic nature of racism, she challenged traditional gender roles, and she even wrote about a demagogic authoritarian US President whose campaign slogan was “help us Make America Great Again”.  She seems to have been telling us that our actions have consequences.  This intimate conversation delves into the extraordinary prescience of Octavia Butler, the relevance of her work, and the lessons we continue to learn.