Whether the 2024 Seattle Reads selection of Parable of the Sower was your introduction to the work of Octavia Butler or you’re a long time fan of the author, I hope you’re enjoying diving into Butler’s world of speculative fiction. Her creative and sometimes terrifying visions of the future, centering of Black experience, dreams of anti-hierarchical structures, embracing of change, and so much more have influenced countless writers in the years since she began writing. For works that inspired or were inspired by Butler’s books, check out these titles to dive deeper.
adrienne maree brown is one of Octavia Butler’s most vocal disciples. She co-edited and contributed to Octavia’s Brood and used the Earthseed teachings from Parable to ground her theories of change and strategic organizing in Emergent Strategy. Butler’s influence is obvious, too, in brown’s first novel, Grievers, which follows a young woman, Dune, living in Detroit as a strange epidemic hits the city. Dune’s mother is one of the first victims of Syndrome H-8, which puts otherwise healthy people into unending comas. As the virus spreads throughout Detroit, mass migration out of the city begins, reminiscent of the migration Lauren Olamina and others undergo in Parable of the Sower. Publishers Weekly praised this short novel for “its deep, moving exploration of loss, family, community, gentrification, and rapidly changing urban landscapes.”
Shelf Talk 