Clockshop

'Kindred' is Octavia E. Butler’s most popular novel. It was published in 1979 and the seed for it was planted at Pasadena City College, where Butler was a student. This fall, over 2,500 Pasadena City College students will read Butler’s novel as part of their “One Book, One College” initiative. What is it about 'Kindred' - a novel that’s more fantasy than science fiction - that makes it so popular?

Nicole M. Mitchell is a creative flutist, composer, bandleader and educator. In 2008, she released Xenogenesis Suite: A Tribute to Octavia E. Butler, followed by her 2014 release of Intergalactic Beings (Xenogenesis II). Both albums are inspired by the writings of Octavia Butler. On October 27, 2016, Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble will perform songs from both albums at the Huntington Library, featuring new and old collaborators exploring updated interpretations of the themes explored in Butler's work. More info here: https://clockshop.org/event/xenogenesis-suite-a-musical-tribute-to-octavia-e-butler/

Radio Imagination artists Mendi + Keith Obadike and Connie Samaras dive into Octavia E. Butler's archive, gleaning inspiration from her notes to produce new work of their own.

For more information about the Radio Imagination exhibition at the Armory Center for the Arts, click here: https://clockshop.org/event/radio-imagination-the-exhibition/

Butler rode the bus for nearly an hour everyday to get to the Central Library downtown—reading, writing and researching. What does her dedication to public libraries tell us about who she was as a writer?

Octavia E. Butler died unexpectedly at 58. After her death, a group of curators and writers have sorted through her papers, working to reveal the writer and thinker we didn't come to know in her lifetime.

How a kitchy sci-fi film became a source of inspiration for Octavia E. Butler and the writers who came after her.

Merrilee Heifetz met Octavia E. Butler as a young agent looking for writers. What followed was 20 years of letters, conversations and insights into someone breaking the borders of fiction.

Writers Tisa Bryant, Lynell George, Robin Coste Lewis, and Fred Moten premiere new works of poetry and creative nonfiction under the stars in the Clockshop courtyard. For these commissions, each writer spent an extended period of time working in the Octavia E. Butler archive at The Huntington Library.

Join us as we use the archives of Octavia E. Butler to examine the work, influence and legacy of the world's most unique voices.

A guided tour of a vacant lot