Shy Writers – Octavia Butler (1947 – 2006): “I’m comfortably asocial”

In a brief autobiography, Butler described herself simply: “I’m comfortably asocial – a hermit in the middle of a large city, a pessimist if I’m not careful, a feminist, a Black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty and drive.”

At the age of 4 she created stories about a magical horse; she was the horse. As a 10-year-old, she was already putting those stories down on paper.

By the time an aunt told her “Honey, Negroes can’t be writers,” it was too late. At 13, Butler was already tapping out new worlds on a Remington portable…

Donna Oliver, a childhood friend, told The Times in 1998: “She wasn’t the outgoing type. She was very, very shy and always seemed to be writing instead of playing.”

> from obituary: Octavia Butler, 58; Author Opened the Galaxies of Science Fiction to Blacks. By Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Los Angeles Times February 28 2006

Octavia Butler’s 12th novel is Fledgling