[Every day for the month of February, I will post a brief write-up of a Black author and links to some of their books. Please click the links in the text to find copies of their works.]

Octavia E. Butler was an American science fiction writer and the first African American woman to achieve a major reputation in the field. She was born on June 22, 1947, in Pasadena, California, and died on February 24, 2006, in Lake Forest Park, Washington.

Butler’s writing dealt with themes of race, gender, power, and oppression.

She wrote more than a dozen novels and won multiple awards for her work, including the Hugo, Nebula, and MacArthur “Genius” grants. Some of her most well-known works include “Kindred,” “Dawn,” and “Parable of the Sower.” Butler’s legacy continues to inspire new generations of writers and readers, and she is widely regarded as one of the most important voices in science fiction.