Octavia Butler's self-motivational messages | SFScope (original) (raw)

Open Culture has this article on Octavia E. Butler‘s hand-written motivational messages, written only to inspire herself, but now helping others.

Butler (1947-2006) was the first science fiction author to win a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. Her science fiction — which considered contemporary themes such as sexual violence, climate change, gender stereotypes, the plight of undocumented immigrants, and racism — earned her two Hugos, two Nebulas, a slew of other awards, and a namesake mountain on Pluto’s moon, Charon. She started writing as a child, and was always quiet and self-effacing, even the night I met her, when she was holding the Nebula Award she’d just won for Parable of the Talents. But her fiction shouted at the world.