Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006)

Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947�February 24, 2006) was an African American science fiction writer. A multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, in 1995 she became the first science fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.

Butler was born in Pasadena, California. After her father died, Octavia was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, she found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. As a teen she began writing science fiction. She attended community college during the black power movement, and while participating in a local writer's workshop was encouraged to attend the Clarion Workshop, which focused on science fiction. She soon sold her first stories and in the late 1970s Butler's writing became successful enough that she was able to stop doing other odd jobs. Her books thereafter drew the favorable attention of awards judges. She taught writer's workshops, and eventually relocated to Washington. Butler died of a stroke at age 58.

Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.