Octavia E. Butler

Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer and author of novels, short stories and essays. A recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, Butler was one of the best-known African-American women in the field.

“Who am I? I'm a 56-year-old writer who can remember being a 10-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an 80-year-old writer. I'm comfortably 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.”