Episode 69 – A Positive Obsession with Octavia E. Butler

Listen on Spotify / Apple / Anchor / scroll down for our podcast player!

Today we’re dedicating an episode to Octavia E. Butler, the visionary writer and mother of Afrofuturism who transformed the way we think about climate stories.

Olivia tells us about Octavia’s childhood, her days as a young daydreaming outsider, her early ambition to write, and the struggles of coming into her own as the first Black female science fiction writer.

Then, Elise takes us through her favorite Butler stories (with minimal but very enthusiastic spoilers) and how they’ve changed how she thinks about social issues in the real world.

A worthwhile episode for lovers of Octavia’s work and newbies alike!

Octavia Butler at home. Photo by Patti Perret.

Sources:

Star Child, Ibi Zoboi
Positive Obsession, an essay by Octavia Butler
adrienne maree brown: Octavia Butler’s Visions of the Future Have Transformed Generation of Readers, Democracy Now, February 23 2021
Remembering Octavia Butler: Black Sci-Fi Writer Shares Cautionary Tales In Unearthed 2005 Interview, Democracy Now, February 23 2021
So Be It, See to It: From the Archives of Octavia Butler, The Paris Review, March 23 2018
Octavia E. Butler, Science Fiction Writer, Dies at 58, New York Times, March 1 2006

Further Reading/Listening:
adrienne maree brown – the podcast Octavia’s Parables and the anthology Octavia’s Brood
The Spectacular Life of Octavia Butler, Vulture, November 21, 2022

Octavia’s Books Elise highlighted in the episode!
Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Talents
Kindred
Fledgling
*The links above are affiliate links to our Bookshop page — they give us a little boost and support local bookstores, at no extra cost (actually, a little discount) to you!

The Dump

Check out Zoe Scruggs’ exhibit Double Sky at the Delaware Contemporary!!

“The title of the exhibition, *Double Sky*, describes a motif that recurs in Scruggs’ most recent work wherein the backgrounds of her paintings and works on paper split into otherworldly color combinations and stormy imagery… These aesthetic choices animate Scruggs’ fascination with creating alternative space – outer space, inner space, open space – for Black world making, free from constraint and toxicity.” (source)

We’re listening to books on Libby, and we’re keeping track of our reading on Storygraph!

The World Is Burning bookshop is live! Help us come up with book list titles and bulk up our reading list.

Our World is Burning themed playlist is on Spotify.

You can keep up with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok.

If you enjoyed this episode, consider reviewing us on Apple Podcasts and downloading/subscribing/following wherever you like to do those things. It helps us immensely.

Thanks for listening!

Ep. 82 – Cheese Caves and Banana Republics – World Is Burning

We’re digging into America’s deepest darkest secrets — when it comes to food, that is. Elise tells us how one president’s cheese became the next president’s problem, which might lead you to Google “American government 1.4 billion pounds of cheese in caves.” We explore how the cheese caves of yesteryear became the weird milk ads of our present. Then Olivia gives us a brief history of bananas, which involves quite a lot of railroad tycoons, bare minimum union demands, and good old American capitalism. Plus, our theory as to why slipping on banana peels was more common a century ago, and our next book club pick. Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos. World Is Burning is hosted by Olivia Hamilton and Elise Nye. Our theme music is by Kaycie Satterfield, and our logo was made by Sonja Katanic.

Sources:

The Dump

Ep. 82 – Cheese Caves and Banana Republics – World Is Burning

Share this:

Related