Octavia E. Butler, writer was 58
LA Observed
From the LA Observed web site: Author Steven Barnes is reporting on his blog (picked up by Boing Boing, where Cory Doctorow calls the news confirmed) that Octavia Butler has died in Seattle following a fall at her home yesterday.
Her Wikipedia entry has been updated to attribute her death at age 58 to a stroke. As a science fiction writer Butler won the Hugo and Nebula awards, and also was the recipient in 1995 of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (or “genius” grant.) She was born in Pasadena and graduated from Pasadena City College, which lists a bibliography of works by her and about her.
And from the LA Times:
Octavia E. Butler’s first creation in the world of science fiction was herself.
Before anybody told her that black girls do not grow up to write about futuristic worlds, Butler, the daughter of a shoeshine man and a maid, was already fashioning a place for herself in a white-dominated universe.
By remaining dedicated to her craft, sweeping floors and working as a telemarketer to pay the bills; by suffering the indignities that come with being among the first; and eventually winning a MacArthur Foundation grant, Butler carved a place for herself — and helped write a new world into existence.
Technorati Tags: LA Observed, Boing Boing, Octavia Butler
