Latest / Spooky Season Podcasts 🎃 / BLK LIT: Who is Octavia Butler?

Transcript

BLK LIT: Who is Octavia Butler? · Spooky Season Podcasts 🎃

0:00
Speaker 1: My name is Jacqueesse Thomas, and you're listening to Black Lid,
0:05
Speaker 1: a podcast about black literature and the stories behind the storytellers.
0:17
Speaker 1: All that you touch, you change. All that you change
0:23
Speaker 1: changes you. Creativity often springs from a lack thereof a
0:30
Speaker 1: void that calls out to be filled, or a need
0:33
Speaker 1: to answer society's hard questions or to explore the complexities
0:39
Speaker 1: within Some of the questions and answers posed within the
0:45
Speaker 1: worlds of Octavia's stories don't necessarily offer simple tales of
0:51
Speaker 1: good versus evil. Instead, they explore both, allowing the narrative
0:57
Speaker 1: to cultivate the fertile ground of possible and nourish an
1:01
Speaker 1: opportunity for a new thought bloom or an old one
1:07
Speaker 1: to die for. What is creativity if not the spark
1:11
Speaker 1: that ignites the birth of more ideas. Creativity, like change,
1:16
Speaker 1: is fluid, shaping and reshaping our understanding of the world
1:22
Speaker 1: around us. Legendary writer and seer Octavia Butler is no
1:28
Speaker 1: stranger to our interdependence as people, our ability to inspire
1:33
Speaker 1: one another. Despite living a fairly solitary life, Octavia understood
1:40
Speaker 1: that none of us are islands navigating the world on
1:43
Speaker 1: our own. We are ships built by many, anchored by
1:48
Speaker 1: our core community, shaped by everything we see and everything
1:54
Speaker 1: we create. Or maybe we're tapestries compilations of fabrics, threads, prints,
2:02
Speaker 1: and textures, the product of many hands and ideas coming together.
2:09
Speaker 1: No matter the metaphor, each of us is a reflection
2:12
Speaker 1: of the people and places that we make ourselves at
2:16
Speaker 1: home within. Accolades and job titles are only half stories.
2:22
Speaker 1: But the best way to understand the patches of the quote,
2:26
Speaker 1: the layers of a person and their work, is to
2:30
Speaker 1: examine these reflections from the beginning. You are now listening
2:38
Speaker 1: to black Lids as we embark on a journey through
2:47
Speaker 1: the life and legacy of Octavia Butler, an oracle of
2:52
Speaker 1: science fiction whose visions of the future resonate more deeply
2:57
Speaker 1: today than ever before, a journey marked by observation, introspection,
3:04
Speaker 1: in the gradual unfurling of a writer's destiny to challenge
3:09
Speaker 1: the very fabric of reality through her words. If everything
3:15
Speaker 1: we experience becomes the fruit of our art, then our
3:19
Speaker 1: childhood's relationships and observations are woven into whatever we create, purposefully, intentionally,
3:29
Speaker 1: or subconsciously. For Octavia Butler, this was especially true. She
3:36
Speaker 1: was a slow, deliberate writer, one whose grand ideas often
3:41
Speaker 1: arrived long before she had the maturity to fully capture them.
3:47
Speaker 1: Her stories waited patiently for her to grow into them,
3:53
Speaker 1: to become the writer capable of nourishing the seeds of
3:57
Speaker 1: her ideas.
4:01
Speaker 2: I made up stories to kind of keep myself company.
4:04
Speaker 1: I guess my writing is at least partly something grown
4:07
Speaker 1: out of alienation. To further understand how these seas were planted,
4:13
Speaker 1: we must take a journey to Pasadena, California. The year
4:19
Speaker 1: is nineteen forty seven, just two days after the start
4:23
Speaker 1: of summer. The sun is shining and long shadows stretch
4:27
Speaker 1: across the entire city. Over one hundred thousand souls live here,
4:32
Speaker 1: but only seven thousand of them are black. In a
4:35
Speaker 1: very small fraction are securing jobs and post offices, or
4:39
Speaker 1: quote unquote professional spaces where dignity hides behind desk and
4:45
Speaker 1: steady paychecks. Though the chains of slavery had been broken
4:49
Speaker 1: several generations before, the air in Pasadena is still heavy
4:53
Speaker 1: with the remnants of those days, especially in homes where
4:57
Speaker 1: black women labor silent, invisible yet indispensable. It was a
5:05
Speaker 1: time when the lines between freedom and servitude were blurred,
5:11
Speaker 1: where the promise of equality felt like a cruel mirage
5:15
Speaker 1: on the horizon, and the general hierarchy within society would
5:19
Speaker 1: maintain the feelings of quasi freedom. For a black woman,
5:24
Speaker 1: living in Pasadena meant navigating a world of contradictions, where
5:31
Speaker 1: opportunities and limitations coexisted, and where resilience and resourcefulness were
5:38
Speaker 1: essential for survival. I am talking of the past, but
5:43
Speaker 1: it is still resonant in our present day. Pasadena's warm,
5:48
Speaker 1: sunlit streets, lined with palm trees and framed by the
5:53
Speaker 1: majestic Zan Gabrielle Mountains might have seemed like a picturesque
5:58
Speaker 1: paradise to outsiders, but for the black residence it was
6:03
Speaker 1: a segregated environment. Housing discrimination was rampant. Real estate covenants
6:10
Speaker 1: restricted black families to certain neighborhoods, clustering them in areas
6:14
Speaker 1: neglected by the city, with poor infrastructure and fewer resources.
6:21
Speaker 1: It was against this backdrop that Octavia Estelle Butler was born.
6:27
Speaker 1: Her name carries the weight of generations her mother, Octavia
6:32
Speaker 1: Margaret Guy and her grandmother Estella, who made the brave
6:38
Speaker 1: journey west during a Great Migration of the nineteen twenties.
6:43
Speaker 1: Leaving behind the oppressive fields of Louisiana. There she had
6:48
Speaker 1: to work in the fields, her hands raw from scraping dishes,
6:53
Speaker 1: hacking sugar cane, boiling laundry, and stirring pots for others,
6:59
Speaker 1: all while raised seven children against all odds, and amid
7:05
Speaker 1: strict racial segregation, she made time to teach Octavia Margaret
7:11
Speaker 1: how to read. Estella's determination was a testament to the
7:16
Speaker 1: unyielding spirit that ran through Butler's lineage. A grandmother born
7:21
Speaker 1: into a world of bondage, determined to give her children
7:25
Speaker 1: the freedom that transcended physical chains, a freedom rooted in knowledge,
7:31
Speaker 1: a kind that would one day be taken to unimaginable
7:35
Speaker 1: heights by her granddaughter. On one hand, the city was
7:41
Speaker 1: located in a state considered more progressive than many others
7:45
Speaker 1: at the time, which presented a complicated picture for the
7:48
Speaker 1: small black community that lived in Pasadena. Although less visible
7:53
Speaker 1: than in the South, the lines of segregation remained sharp,
7:58
Speaker 1: confining Black women like Butler's mother to domestic work in
8:02
Speaker 1: white households. These roles were an extension of the work
8:07
Speaker 1: their mothers and grandmothers endured in the South. Long days
8:12
Speaker 1: of scrubbing floors cooking mills and raising children that were
8:17
Speaker 1: not their own for wages that barely kept food on
8:21
Speaker 1: a table. But it was during these pivotal moments that
8:25
Speaker 1: Butler became an observer, and not just of what people
8:29
Speaker 1: said or did, but also how it spoke to their values.
8:34
Speaker 1: Like most, Octavia's first opportunity to be a spectator was
8:39
Speaker 1: with her parents. She often accompanied her mother on these jobs,
8:44
Speaker 1: entering through back doors and observing the quiet endurance required
8:49
Speaker 1: to survive such labor. When she was just seven or eight,
8:54
Speaker 1: Octavia told her mother, I'll never do what you do.
8:59
Speaker 2: What you do is.
9:01
Speaker 1: Her mother stood silent, the weight of the reality etched
9:05
Speaker 1: on her face, a look that Octavia would never forget,
9:10
Speaker 1: a moment that stuck with Butler, and that shaped the
9:13
Speaker 1: way she saw people surviving inhumane circumstances later in life.
9:19
Speaker 1: In an interview with Hoshanda Saunders, Butler says people like
9:24
Speaker 1: her mother were not people who were just too pathetic
9:28
Speaker 1: to protect themselves, but were heroes because they were using
9:32
Speaker 1: what they had to help their kids get a little further.
9:37
Speaker 1: This experience gave birth to a perspective that inspired her
9:42
Speaker 1: novel Kindred, which she would write approximately twelve years later.
9:48
Speaker 1: This was an important moment that shaped a story, but
9:52
Speaker 1: it was actually a moment before that that started molding
9:55
Speaker 1: her relationship with literature. One day, her mother handed her
9:59
Speaker 1: a book book and said, now you read. At this
10:03
Speaker 1: very young age, Octavia embarked on a path her mother
10:06
Speaker 1: couldn't have foreseen. By placing that book into her hands,
10:11
Speaker 1: her mother unknowingly set her on a path to creating
10:15
Speaker 1: her own stories. Octavia was shy, quiet, and very tall.
10:21
Speaker 1: At a very young age, she towered over her classmates
10:26
Speaker 1: and found the outside world isolating. She never really fit in,
10:31
Speaker 1: although relatives found that she was respectful. She had dyslexia.
10:37
Speaker 1: Her teachers labeled her as slow because she didn't fit
10:42
Speaker 1: readily into their expectations. But instead of fading away, she
10:47
Speaker 1: found solace in her imagination. She scribbled stories into a
10:51
Speaker 1: big pink notebook, carving out her own universe where she
10:55
Speaker 1: can be anything a magic horse, a martian, a telepath,
11:01
Speaker 1: and the pages of her own mind. She traveled. The
11:06
Speaker 1: Pasadena Public Library became her sanctuary where she discovers science
11:11
Speaker 1: fiction and her imagination ignited by the distant worlds of
11:17
Speaker 1: Dune and pilgrimage. As the nineteen sixties begins to dawn.
11:27
Speaker 1: The streets of Pasadena echo with murmurs of change. The
11:31
Speaker 1: civil rights movement, although not as loud as it is
11:35
Speaker 1: in other parts of the country, it starts to seep
11:37
Speaker 1: into the community. Black women like Butler's mother and neighbors
11:42
Speaker 1: push for better housing, education, and the chance to live freely,
11:47
Speaker 1: but Octavia remains immersed in her stories, happily lost in
11:53
Speaker 1: the world that she's just beginning to build. At ten,
11:57
Speaker 1: she sits in her kitchen, hair neatly penned, listening to
12:02
Speaker 1: her mother's voice over the hiss of hot irons. Everyone
12:08
Speaker 1: has something that they can do better than anything else.
12:11
Speaker 1: It's up to them to find out what that is.
12:15
Speaker 1: These words planted seeds in Octavia's mind, nurturing the idea
12:21
Speaker 1: that she too, can find her power. At thirteen, in
12:30
Speaker 1: her aunt's kitchen, she declares her ambition to become a writer.
12:36
Speaker 1: Her aunt, the first in a family to attend college
12:38
Speaker 1: and now a nurse, responds with a mix of pride
12:42
Speaker 1: and practicality. That's nice, dear, but you'll still have to
12:46
Speaker 1: get a job too. Octavia respectfully pushes back, refusing to
12:51
Speaker 1: let her dreams be reduced to a mere hobby. But
12:54
Speaker 1: writing will be my job. The back and forth between
12:57
Speaker 1: them is as old as time, a dance between dreamer
13:01
Speaker 1: and realists. Her aunt's voice echoes generations who've learned to
13:06
Speaker 1: survive by bending dreams to fit reality. Honey, negroes can't
13:11
Speaker 1: be writers, Well why not, Octavia asks, They just can't. Yes,
13:18
Speaker 1: they can too, she declares, as her voice rises above doubt,
13:22
Speaker 1: leaning into the resiliency of her ancestors. The reality of
13:27
Speaker 1: black life in the seventies directly speaks to the reality
13:30
Speaker 1: of black life now roots. The current number one best
13:34
Speaker 1: selling novel is the television event of the year. But
13:37
Speaker 1: black is unquestionably beautiful, and America began.
13:41
Speaker 2: To realize it.
13:43
Speaker 1: By the nineteen seventies. Octavia's home city begins to shift.
13:49
Speaker 1: The civil rights movement and new anti discrimination laws created
13:54
Speaker 1: cracks and once immovable barriers, and new opportunities emerged. However
14:00
Speaker 1: or narrow, black women were able to find work in offices, schools,
14:05
Speaker 1: and hospitals, But the battle is far from over. Octavia's
14:10
Speaker 1: coming of age, and this changing landscape still doesn't fit
14:13
Speaker 1: the mode of these new professions. She writes obsessively, even
14:18
Speaker 1: as She works mind numbing jobs and factories and warehouses,
14:22
Speaker 1: places where they didn't expect her to smile or pretend
14:25
Speaker 1: like she was having a good time. She'd wake up
14:28
Speaker 1: at two or three in the morning to write before
14:31
Speaker 1: shifts and started collecting every rejection, slip imaginable, with every
14:37
Speaker 1: rejection hinting that she didn't belong, which would make even
14:42
Speaker 1: the most positively obsessed writer doubtful. She questions, who was
14:48
Speaker 1: I anyway? Why would anyone pay any attention to what
14:53
Speaker 1: I have to say? I was writing science fiction and fantasy,
14:57
Speaker 1: for God's sakes, But she could not quit. Positive obsession
15:02
Speaker 1: is dangerous, she later reflects. It's about not being able
15:07
Speaker 1: to stop at all, and so she kept going, her
15:11
Speaker 1: pen becoming her compass.
15:13
Speaker 2: I was a clarion and I sold two short stories
15:16
Speaker 2: while there two editors who were.
15:18
Speaker 1: There, and five years later she publishes her first novel,
15:23
Speaker 1: The Pattern Master. When I was twelve, I saw a
15:27
Speaker 1: terrible movie called Devil Girl from Mars, and I.
15:30
Speaker 2: Turned off the television and said to myself, I can
15:33
Speaker 2: write a better story than that.
15:35
Speaker 1: As Pasadena continues to grow and change, as well as
15:39
Speaker 1: the country around her, Octavia's stories reached further than she
15:43
Speaker 1: could have ever imagined. Her words, born from the resilience
15:47
Speaker 1: of the women before her and the fire of her
15:50
Speaker 1: own creative spirit, carve a place in a genre that
15:54
Speaker 1: long excluded voices like hers. From her grandmother's hands, pulling
15:59
Speaker 1: roots from Louisiana soil to her mother's whispered bedtime stories,
16:05
Speaker 1: Octavia transforms pain and survival into something greater, proof that
16:11
Speaker 1: even in the hardest circumstances, the act of creating can
16:15
Speaker 1: be the most powerful form of resistance and the truest
16:20
Speaker 1: form of freedom. She found a way to bend the
16:24
Speaker 1: world to her imagination, creating spaces for voices like hers, black, marginalized, misunderstood,
16:34
Speaker 1: to rise above the noise beyond her childhood. Who can
16:46
Speaker 1: say they truly knew Octavia the woman? Not Many like
16:51
Speaker 1: her plotlines and characters. Octavia Butler is quite the enigma,
16:57
Speaker 1: despite helping to reveal so much in us. Yes, her
17:01
Speaker 1: work so singular and widely acclaimed, and yet she is
17:05
Speaker 1: known truly by few. Like Air, Butler is omnipresent and
17:13
Speaker 1: yet unseen in many ways. Some would think that this
17:17
Speaker 1: is intentional. Unlike other authors, Butler really pursued press for
17:22
Speaker 1: her projects and never traveled on book tours, not to
17:26
Speaker 1: mention some of that is the fault of her publishing company.
17:29
Speaker 2: I remember trying to convince my publishers of this early on,
17:33
Speaker 2: and having no success until I went with a smaller publisher.
17:38
Speaker 1: Nevertheless, it wasn't until her last decade of life that
17:42
Speaker 1: Butler truly sat down with journalists, friends and colleagues for
17:48
Speaker 1: all the record conversations about her life and legacy within
17:52
Speaker 1: the science fiction genre. Was Octavia Butler allowing the work
17:56
Speaker 1: to speak for itself. Perhaps other no black creatives have
18:01
Speaker 1: opted for an almost obsessive need to control their narrative
18:06
Speaker 1: and what is said about their art. Or maybe this
18:09
Speaker 1: was her introverted nature that shied away from media and buzz,
18:16
Speaker 1: choosing instead bookstores and her garden. But it's worth asking
18:21
Speaker 1: why someone so celebrated and well known is also such
18:26
Speaker 1: a mystery. I had the pleasure of speaking with Nissi Shaw,
18:31
Speaker 1: and here's what she had to say about Octavia.
18:34
Speaker 2: She was very much an introvert, and yet the words
18:41
Speaker 2: there are two words that come to mind when I
18:44
Speaker 2: think of her. Gracious and generous. She was generous with
18:50
Speaker 2: her time, a recluse, a hermit, an introvert who understood
18:57
Speaker 2: that people needed to see her and interact with her,
19:01
Speaker 2: and out of the goodness of her heart, made herself available.
19:06
Speaker 2: She understood that people found her amazing, but she didn't
19:13
Speaker 2: like decide that that made them less amazing.
19:17
Speaker 1: Were her writing's prophecy. There's no taking away from her
19:20
Speaker 1: ability to envision what could be possible. Octavia's writing process
19:25
Speaker 1: was a testament to her deep introspection and keen observation.
19:31
Speaker 2: By being in touch with what is going on, you
19:36
Speaker 2: can be in touch with what is coming. So the
19:42
Speaker 2: Parable Books in particular, she talked with me about them
19:46
Speaker 2: as the outgrowth of listening to NPR. So she was
19:53
Speaker 2: listening to news stories about like Reagan's campaign, honestly and
20:01
Speaker 2: sort of extrapolating into what would what it would be
20:05
Speaker 2: like in forty years, what news stories would be coming
20:09
Speaker 2: down at that point, and very good extrapolations because they
20:16
Speaker 2: were very she was very keen and observant of what
20:22
Speaker 2: was happening at the time. It wasn't that she was
20:25
Speaker 2: saying it is inevitable that we will have this sort
20:32
Speaker 2: of thing happening. It was seems pretty likely that if
20:39
Speaker 2: we go down this road, we'll find another situation at
20:45
Speaker 2: the end of it. Yeah, she wasn't predicting exactly, but
20:51
Speaker 2: she was paying attention. Parable of the sower and parable
20:57
Speaker 2: of the talents. Now that is a prophecy. I hope.
21:03
Speaker 1: Her writings challenge us to think, to feel, and to change,
21:09
Speaker 1: embodying her words that God is changed, compelling us to
21:15
Speaker 1: look inward and outward, to confront our histories and to
21:20
Speaker 1: reimagine our futures. And her narratives, hope is a reoccurring theme.
21:27
Speaker 1: Hope is never naive, but is resilient, enduring, considerate.
21:35
Speaker 2: So I'm going to refer to Samuel Delaney, who was,
21:41
Speaker 2: by the way, one of Octavia's instructors when she went
21:45
Speaker 2: to the Clarion workshop. Theme is not something that authors
21:50
Speaker 2: put in their work. Theme is something that readers get
21:56
Speaker 2: out of the work. She may have had her concern,
22:00
Speaker 2: you know, that she was thinking about, and that made
22:03
Speaker 2: their way into the manuscript. But she was an atheist,
22:10
Speaker 2: but she respected other people's beliefs and thought that those
22:15
Speaker 2: beliefs gave them power. As in the in Parable of
22:20
Speaker 2: the Sewer, people are talking about going to another planet,
22:25
Speaker 2: and she compared this project to the project of building cathedrals,
22:33
Speaker 2: the sort of belief that could keep generations working at
22:39
Speaker 2: the same project. She was not religious herself, but I had,
22:49
Speaker 2: for instance, I had a feast for my ancestors, and
22:56
Speaker 2: I invited her, and she came, and she brought gifts,
23:01
Speaker 2: and she brought flowers, and she participated in the chants
23:07
Speaker 2: and the songs because that was the respectful thing to do,
23:11
Speaker 2: not because you know, this was her personal belief. So
23:19
Speaker 2: she was an atheist within herself, but she understood the
23:26
Speaker 2: community power that religion can give.
23:30
Speaker 1: Butler's legacy is not confined to her literary contributions. Her
23:36
Speaker 1: life's work continues to inspire new generations, challenging us to
23:41
Speaker 1: think critically about the direction of our society.
23:45
Speaker 2: When Octavia died, there were so many people who were
23:50
Speaker 2: moved by that. Who were people who had only met
23:55
Speaker 2: her for half an hour were in tears. She just
23:59
Speaker 2: had that kind of effect on people. I belonged to
24:04
Speaker 2: the Carl Brandon Society, which is a nonprofit that's dedicated
24:10
Speaker 2: to increasing the representation and supporting their representation of people
24:15
Speaker 2: of color in science fiction, fantasy, and horror and related genres.
24:21
Speaker 2: So I believe there were five different people who approached
24:27
Speaker 2: me individually, and there were probably others involved in the
24:31
Speaker 2: Carl Brandon Society who were approached. All these people were saying,
24:36
Speaker 2: we need to start a scholarship in Octavia's name so
24:40
Speaker 2: that others can come to Clarion West or Clarion or
24:48
Speaker 2: you know, some sort of writing experience that will give
24:51
Speaker 2: them what she had. She did attend Clarion when it
24:56
Speaker 2: was in Clarion, Pennsylvania, and she taught several times at
25:01
Speaker 2: Clarion West and at Clarion which is now located in
25:05
Speaker 2: San Diego. So there was this sort of ground swell
25:09
Speaker 2: of people saying, we've got to do this. Oh, and
25:12
Speaker 2: it costs thousands of dollars to attend Clarion or Clarion West,
25:17
Speaker 2: so you have the airfare, you have food, you have
25:23
Speaker 2: the tuition. So you know, it's no small thing to
25:29
Speaker 2: be able to say I've got a scholarship to cover
25:32
Speaker 2: all that. My role in it at this point is minuscule.
25:36
Speaker 2: What has happened is every year we've had one or
25:41
Speaker 2: two scholarship recipients, and those recipients now are responsible for
25:49
Speaker 2: choosing who gets the next award.
25:53
Speaker 1: Do you understood that writing was not just an act
25:55
Speaker 1: of creation, but a dialogue, a co creation with those
26:00
Speaker 1: would dwell within her worlds. Long after the words were penned.
26:04
Speaker 1: I asked Nicie Shaw about the magic of creating, and
26:09
Speaker 1: she also talks a little bit about how magical Octavia
26:14
Speaker 1: Butler was as well.
26:16
Speaker 2: That ability to make something from nothing, to conjure stories
26:22
Speaker 2: and worlds and people and situations out of well, your mind,
26:29
Speaker 2: your experience. I don't think that there are people who
26:34
Speaker 2: will say you can just you know, write anything and
26:38
Speaker 2: people will understand it and believe it. I don't think so.
26:42
Speaker 2: I think you have to follow certain guides that you
26:48
Speaker 2: find within yourself and within other people's minds. And I
26:52
Speaker 2: think that's true for magic also, that you don't just
26:57
Speaker 2: you know, like decide, well, I'm going to make it
27:01
Speaker 2: so that you know, rain is blue or something like that.
27:05
Speaker 2: You just you have to pay attention to what's going on,
27:11
Speaker 2: and then you can kind of bend and persuade the
27:17
Speaker 2: reality into this other reality. This feeling common in both
27:23
Speaker 2: writing and in I will say other forms of magic
27:27
Speaker 2: that you are the impetus. Maybe you are, like what's
27:32
Speaker 2: you know, initiating this, but you are not the whole thing.
27:36
Speaker 2: Because it is a co creation with your audience. It
27:40
Speaker 2: is a co creation with the other people who are
27:44
Speaker 2: part of the writing reading equation, and also of the
27:52
Speaker 2: the spell or whatever, the magic, the enchantment. They're part
27:56
Speaker 2: of it too.
27:58
Speaker 1: One of the most beautiful moments is when I asked
28:02
Speaker 1: Nisi Shaw how she will remember Octavia Butler. Please take
28:07
Speaker 1: a moment to truly listen to this answer. It is
28:11
Speaker 1: an answer that will open your heart, your mind, and
28:16
Speaker 1: your purpose as you continue, as I continue on in
28:20
Speaker 1: this journey. This is such a beautiful way for a
28:24
Speaker 1: friend to remember the life of someone who had such
28:29
Speaker 1: an impact on all of us. To hear directly from
28:32
Speaker 1: someone who knew her what impact she left, so intimately,
28:38
Speaker 1: so honestly, because this could possibly change how you want
28:42
Speaker 1: to be remembered, the actions that you take in life
28:45
Speaker 1: in order to have such reverence in memory.
28:49
Speaker 2: One of my favorite authors fantasy author named Peter Beegel,
28:53
Speaker 2: in his book The Last Unicorn, which is everybody needs
28:57
Speaker 2: to read that book. But the Last un is enchanted
29:02
Speaker 2: and turned into a human female in appearance and her
29:07
Speaker 2: magic over time lessons as she's captive in this female form,
29:13
Speaker 2: the change that comes over her magic. Beagle notes as
29:19
Speaker 2: first she was magical in a way that made everyone
29:22
Speaker 2: else magical. Then her magic dwindled, and she became magical
29:27
Speaker 2: in a way that was only her. That you know,
29:33
Speaker 2: it made everything else more mundane. And Octavia was always
29:37
Speaker 2: magical in the first way, in a way that made
29:40
Speaker 2: everyone else magical too.
29:47
Speaker 1: It's important to understand the beginnings what happens when a
29:51
Speaker 1: writer is born. The coupling of words that were never
29:55
Speaker 1: conjured together are formed. Perspectives are alived to change others.
30:02
Speaker 1: Dreams that were once unseen but played out in our
30:05
Speaker 1: imaginations appear on the silver screens. Ideas and heartfelt expressions
30:11
Speaker 1: of life all fall onto the page, and in between
30:15
Speaker 1: those hardcovers, we're able to escape into the lives of
30:20
Speaker 1: personalities not unlike our own, but personify our ideals, our fears,
30:28
Speaker 1: our strengths, and our weaknesses, letters that come together to
30:33
Speaker 1: tell us about our ancestors, our magic, our realities, and
30:40
Speaker 1: also our mistakes, to teach us to guide us. When
30:44
Speaker 1: a writer is born, not only is history made, but
30:49
Speaker 1: history is saved. Every writer has a journey understanding the landscape,
30:55
Speaker 1: the impressions that surrounded their world. Gives us a little
30:59
Speaker 1: insight into war but molded their creativity and the person.
31:04
Speaker 1: As we continue over the next couple of episodes, we'll
31:08
Speaker 1: explore Octavia's impact on the world, and we'll go deeper
31:12
Speaker 1: into the pages of her work. Perhaps everything we need
31:16
Speaker 1: to know is already written. Black Lit is a Black
31:27
Speaker 1: Effect original series in partnership with iHeart Media. I Jacquise
31:31
Speaker 1: Thomas and the creator and executive producer, alongside Dolly s Bishop.
31:36
Speaker 1: Chanelle Collins is the director of production. It is written
31:41
Speaker 1: by myself and Bria Baker. Our researcher and producer is
31:45
Speaker 1: Jabari Davis, and the mix and sound design is by
31:49
Speaker 1: the Humble Duyne Crawford Special thanks to Hoshonda Sounders, Chila Lyming,
31:55
Speaker 1: Edward Champion, Christians Wicker, Bruce Duncan, and of course Nissa.
32:01
Speaker 1: Join me on the next episode as we continue the
32:03
Speaker 1: conversation on Octavia Butler's life and work. Also, if you're
32:09
Speaker 1: looking to become a writer or in search of a
32:12
Speaker 1: supportive writing community, join me for a free creative writing
32:16
Speaker 1: session on my website black writers Room dot com, b
32:20
Speaker 1: LK Writer's Room dot com, or hit me up directly
32:24
Speaker 1: for more details at Underscore t h A T S
32:29
Speaker 1: P E A c E. That's piece