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Conversations with Octavia Butler
Octavia Butler (1947-2006) spent the majority of her prolific career as the only major black female author of science fiction. Winner of both the Nebula and Hugo Awards as well as a MacArthur "genius" grant, the first for a science fiction writer, Butler created worlds that challenged notions of race, sex, gender, and humanity. Whether in the postapocalyptic future of the Parable stories, in the human inability to assimilate change and difference in the Xenogenesis books, or in the destructive sense of superiority in the Patternist series, Butler held up a mirror, reflecting what is beautiful, corrupt, worthwhile, and damning about the world we inhabit.
In interviews ranging from 1980 until just before her sudden death in 2006, Conversations with Octavia Butler reveals a writer very much aware of herself as the "rare bird" of science fiction even as she shows frustration with the constant question,"How does it feel to be the only one?" Whether discussing humanity's biological imperatives or the difference between science fiction and fantasy or the plight of the working poor in America, Butler emerges in these interviews as funny, intelligent, complicated, and intensely original.
In interviews ranging from 1980 until just before her sudden death in 2006, Conversations with Octavia Butler reveals a writer very much aware of herself as the "rare bird" of science fiction even as she shows frustration with the constant question,"How does it feel to be the only one?" Whether discussing humanity's biological imperatives or the difference between science fiction and fantasy or the plight of the working poor in America, Butler emerges in these interviews as funny, intelligent, complicated, and intensely original.
288 pages, Paperback
First published December 2, 2009
28 people are currently reading
2651 people want to read
About the author
Octavia E. Butler
106 books22.3k followersOctavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant.
After her father died, Butler was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Octavia found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. 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 by the late 1970s had become sufficiently successful as an author that she was able to pursue writing full-time. Her books and short stories drew the favorable attention of the public and awards judges. She also taught writer's workshops, and eventually relocated to Washington state. Butler died of a stroke at the age of 58. Her papers are held in the research collection of the Huntington Library.
After her father died, Butler was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Octavia found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. 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 by the late 1970s had become sufficiently successful as an author that she was able to pursue writing full-time. Her books and short stories drew the favorable attention of the public and awards judges. She also taught writer's workshops, and eventually relocated to Washington state. Butler died of a stroke at the age of 58. Her papers are held in the research collection of the Huntington Library.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
November 6, 2011
I purposely took a long time to finish this book. This collection of interviews is like the closest I'll ever get to hearing or seeing Octavia Butler in person, so I dragged it out, not wanting it to end.
My biggest critique is that there is some repetition, and a more narrow focus -- there isn't as much material about the Patternmaster books or Lilith's Brood. Her more popular books, the Parables and Kindred, get most of the attention.
My other critique is really not about the book, but about NPR interviewers. Several of the included pieces originally aired on NPR, and for some reason, I found that experiencing these interviews in print rather than via audio had some grating qualities. There is one particular interview with Juan Williams that was quite annoying as it was clear that he hadn't actually read the books in question, and he was a bit impatient with her and not interested in her more thoughtful speaking style.
All that said, it's quite a good collection of interviews, and it really does give one a glimpse into how Butler worked, and what inspired her and where all the magic & prescience came from. Even the repeated questions would sometimes bring out a speck of interesting new information on how Butler shaped her fictional worlds.
Octavia Butler saw a sliver of our future and wrote us fantastic letters of warning about it. I frequently find myself wondering what she would think of the current state of things. The world is smaller without her vision, but it is much much larger in our hearts because of it.
My biggest critique is that there is some repetition, and a more narrow focus -- there isn't as much material about the Patternmaster books or Lilith's Brood. Her more popular books, the Parables and Kindred, get most of the attention.
My other critique is really not about the book, but about NPR interviewers. Several of the included pieces originally aired on NPR, and for some reason, I found that experiencing these interviews in print rather than via audio had some grating qualities. There is one particular interview with Juan Williams that was quite annoying as it was clear that he hadn't actually read the books in question, and he was a bit impatient with her and not interested in her more thoughtful speaking style.
All that said, it's quite a good collection of interviews, and it really does give one a glimpse into how Butler worked, and what inspired her and where all the magic & prescience came from. Even the repeated questions would sometimes bring out a speck of interesting new information on how Butler shaped her fictional worlds.
Octavia Butler saw a sliver of our future and wrote us fantastic letters of warning about it. I frequently find myself wondering what she would think of the current state of things. The world is smaller without her vision, but it is much much larger in our hearts because of it.
March 15, 2013
Originally posted at The BiblioSanctum
I have to thank my friend Tracie for recommending Octavia E. Butler to me. I started with her Xenogenesis trilogy, and have been slowly building my collection since. Every time I read a book by Ms. Butler, I find myself wishing I could get inside the her mind. Her works are so far from the typical science fiction, dystopian stories and they share the constant theme of forcing us to question our humanity and society and the rules we adhere to and the many, many prejudices that we are never able to leave behind. With Butler’s passing in 2006, it seemed I wouldn’t have that opportunity, but apparently, Conseula Francis had the same idea and put together this collection of interviews.
Ms. Butler’s target readers are classified as Blacks, feminists and science fiction fans – but these are labels that people have stuck on her work. She did not like labels, though she appreciated their value, especially to a publisher, and understood the human need to categorize everything. Her works do fit into these very basic categories, but what fascinates me most about her books is the way they move so far beyond. “Thinking outside the box” does not even begin to cover it! Her books deal with so many issues and often do so in a way that crosses far into our comfort zones as they hold up a mirror to our humanity, warts and all. I recommend her books to many people, but warn not to expect a happy ending. Her books are realistic – perhaps too much so for some readers. I most recently read Parable of the Talents – a book some readers consider prophetic, though Ms. Butler stressed it was a cautionary tale – and couldn’t help comparing it to the volatile American political and religious situation at the time. Even when her books are dealing with aliens and vampires and mutation, I’ve found her approach to the subject matter makes it seem as though these things really could come to pass, if they have not already. But it is the honest and often harsh way she presents our humanity to us that is what really can get under your skin. Taboo topics like incest, slavery, racism, sexism, rape, pedophilia, religious fanaticism, addiction, hierarchy, genetic engineering, violence and more are often a part of the protagonists’ struggles.
Before this ends up as a “Why You Should Read Octavia E. Butler’s Books,” let me try to focus on this book, specifically. Conversations with Octavia Butler is a collection of interviews with the prize-winning author. There is a reasonable and expected amount of repetition from interview to interview, but some interviewers are more insightful and involved than others. Ms. Butler’s responses to some interviewers could be brief or even impatient in one case where the interviewer perhaps did not do his homework, but in others, she eloquently detailed various topics. I particularly enjoyed the interview with Charles Rowell where her responses to each question could go on for a page or more as she passionately spoke about writing, advice for writers, her inspirations and more.
Her words revealed her enthusiasm for writing and what she wrote revealed her passion for all sorts of topics. Her explanation of her writing process – which involved reading and listening to everything! – was fascinating. I respected how adamantly she defined science fiction and researched her own works accordingly. Simply put, she believed science fiction stories ought to involve actual science. A reader during a radio interview noted that Ms. Butler’s works touch on so many different forms of “science,” from biological, to technological to social to political science, but even when they involve fantastical elements, there is always a grounding that is a reflection of the research she put in.
Being, at the time, the only Black female author in the science fiction genre, writing about Black female characters in a genre that usually featured 30 year old White men, racism and sexism unsurprisingly came up with some of the interviews. Ms. Butler did address the topics, but it becomes clear that she never wrote with an agenda with the specific intent to deal with prejudice. She stressed that she simply wanted to write and initially, she did write about those 30 year old White guys until she realized those early writings were “garbage” and instead started writing herself for herself. The main characters are Black females because that’s what she was. From there, the personalities of the characters grew from her own feelings on certain issues or a desire to explore other issues.
This is something that I really love about Butler’s work. I can’t help but be pleased to find stories that I can relate to with characters that more accurately reflect my own multicultural environment and upbringing. I loved that none of the characters’ race or gender existed out of context or were a case of tokenism. Certainly there was prejudice against characters because of their race or gender, but the characters weren’t simply created Black and/or female specifically to address the topic of racism and/or sexism. Not even in Kindred , where a Black woman is transported to the past where she must deal with the reality of slavery and save her White slavemaster. This could be overlooked as simply “another book about slavery,” but it was fascinating to find out what inspired her to write Kindred. It’s one of the many tidbits I learned about Butler and her work by reading Conversations.
Most of the interviews in Conversations were one on one with Ms. Butler, but the MIT Cultural Studies Project was a highlight, as it featured several other prominent authors and covered some very interesting and still relevant thoughts within the topic of literacy and more.
My only disappointment is that the majority of the interviews focused on Kindred and Parable of the Sower, with some Xenogenesis and Patternmaster in the mix. I would have liked to learn more about Parable of the Talents and Fledgling . I also learned from this book that she had been working on a third part in the Parable series, Parable of the Trickster, which would have dealt with the Earthseed colonists struggling to survive their destiny in space. In one of the final interviews, Ms. Butler explained that she intended the colonists’ struggle to be with themselves, not with aliens or galactic conflict. In other words, no matter where humanity goes, the best and worst of us does not change.
I still have a few more of Ms. Butler’s books to read and this book certainly inspires me to get on with that. Reading this satisfied my desire to know more about Octavia E. Butler’s captivating mind, but, especially now that I know about Parable of the Trickster, it saddens me to know that there won’t be anymore conversations.
I have to thank my friend Tracie for recommending Octavia E. Butler to me. I started with her Xenogenesis trilogy, and have been slowly building my collection since. Every time I read a book by Ms. Butler, I find myself wishing I could get inside the her mind. Her works are so far from the typical science fiction, dystopian stories and they share the constant theme of forcing us to question our humanity and society and the rules we adhere to and the many, many prejudices that we are never able to leave behind. With Butler’s passing in 2006, it seemed I wouldn’t have that opportunity, but apparently, Conseula Francis had the same idea and put together this collection of interviews.
Ms. Butler’s target readers are classified as Blacks, feminists and science fiction fans – but these are labels that people have stuck on her work. She did not like labels, though she appreciated their value, especially to a publisher, and understood the human need to categorize everything. Her works do fit into these very basic categories, but what fascinates me most about her books is the way they move so far beyond. “Thinking outside the box” does not even begin to cover it! Her books deal with so many issues and often do so in a way that crosses far into our comfort zones as they hold up a mirror to our humanity, warts and all. I recommend her books to many people, but warn not to expect a happy ending. Her books are realistic – perhaps too much so for some readers. I most recently read Parable of the Talents – a book some readers consider prophetic, though Ms. Butler stressed it was a cautionary tale – and couldn’t help comparing it to the volatile American political and religious situation at the time. Even when her books are dealing with aliens and vampires and mutation, I’ve found her approach to the subject matter makes it seem as though these things really could come to pass, if they have not already. But it is the honest and often harsh way she presents our humanity to us that is what really can get under your skin. Taboo topics like incest, slavery, racism, sexism, rape, pedophilia, religious fanaticism, addiction, hierarchy, genetic engineering, violence and more are often a part of the protagonists’ struggles.
Before this ends up as a “Why You Should Read Octavia E. Butler’s Books,” let me try to focus on this book, specifically. Conversations with Octavia Butler is a collection of interviews with the prize-winning author. There is a reasonable and expected amount of repetition from interview to interview, but some interviewers are more insightful and involved than others. Ms. Butler’s responses to some interviewers could be brief or even impatient in one case where the interviewer perhaps did not do his homework, but in others, she eloquently detailed various topics. I particularly enjoyed the interview with Charles Rowell where her responses to each question could go on for a page or more as she passionately spoke about writing, advice for writers, her inspirations and more.
Her words revealed her enthusiasm for writing and what she wrote revealed her passion for all sorts of topics. Her explanation of her writing process – which involved reading and listening to everything! – was fascinating. I respected how adamantly she defined science fiction and researched her own works accordingly. Simply put, she believed science fiction stories ought to involve actual science. A reader during a radio interview noted that Ms. Butler’s works touch on so many different forms of “science,” from biological, to technological to social to political science, but even when they involve fantastical elements, there is always a grounding that is a reflection of the research she put in.
Being, at the time, the only Black female author in the science fiction genre, writing about Black female characters in a genre that usually featured 30 year old White men, racism and sexism unsurprisingly came up with some of the interviews. Ms. Butler did address the topics, but it becomes clear that she never wrote with an agenda with the specific intent to deal with prejudice. She stressed that she simply wanted to write and initially, she did write about those 30 year old White guys until she realized those early writings were “garbage” and instead started writing herself for herself. The main characters are Black females because that’s what she was. From there, the personalities of the characters grew from her own feelings on certain issues or a desire to explore other issues.
This is something that I really love about Butler’s work. I can’t help but be pleased to find stories that I can relate to with characters that more accurately reflect my own multicultural environment and upbringing. I loved that none of the characters’ race or gender existed out of context or were a case of tokenism. Certainly there was prejudice against characters because of their race or gender, but the characters weren’t simply created Black and/or female specifically to address the topic of racism and/or sexism. Not even in Kindred , where a Black woman is transported to the past where she must deal with the reality of slavery and save her White slavemaster. This could be overlooked as simply “another book about slavery,” but it was fascinating to find out what inspired her to write Kindred. It’s one of the many tidbits I learned about Butler and her work by reading Conversations.
Most of the interviews in Conversations were one on one with Ms. Butler, but the MIT Cultural Studies Project was a highlight, as it featured several other prominent authors and covered some very interesting and still relevant thoughts within the topic of literacy and more.
My only disappointment is that the majority of the interviews focused on Kindred and Parable of the Sower, with some Xenogenesis and Patternmaster in the mix. I would have liked to learn more about Parable of the Talents and Fledgling . I also learned from this book that she had been working on a third part in the Parable series, Parable of the Trickster, which would have dealt with the Earthseed colonists struggling to survive their destiny in space. In one of the final interviews, Ms. Butler explained that she intended the colonists’ struggle to be with themselves, not with aliens or galactic conflict. In other words, no matter where humanity goes, the best and worst of us does not change.
I still have a few more of Ms. Butler’s books to read and this book certainly inspires me to get on with that. Reading this satisfied my desire to know more about Octavia E. Butler’s captivating mind, but, especially now that I know about Parable of the Trickster, it saddens me to know that there won’t be anymore conversations.
August 2, 2019
From 2016:
One of my #diversebooks recommendations! I tweeted about this book at length, this is the beginning of my thread.
From 2019:
Reread for my upcoming review of Imago. I found myself taking pictures of various pages with my phone to type up quotes later, SO MANY QUOTES (I did put some into the review, but some will have to become a standalone post...)
One of my #diversebooks recommendations! I tweeted about this book at length, this is the beginning of my thread.
From 2019:
Reread for my upcoming review of Imago. I found myself taking pictures of various pages with my phone to type up quotes later, SO MANY QUOTES (I did put some into the review, but some will have to become a standalone post...)
June 18, 2019
For committed fans of Octavia Butler, this is a treat. The interviews are a little repetitive and sometimes ask about things I'm less interested in, such as writing or the literary world, but it's great to hear Octavia Butler in conversation. She's even more of a weirdo than I thought she'd be. I love that her first stories as a child were soap operas about a magic horse, and that she alarmed her peers during discussions about their hopes and dreams, because she'd say that if she could do whatever she wanted with no restrictions, she'd "live forever and breed people." She also talked about a period of her life where she had a lot of nightmares, and that she actually enjoyed the nightmares and found them really interesting and exciting. I'm bummed that I've now reached the end of my Octavia Butler project.
Read
August 30, 2020not what I was hoping for and crazy tedious, there is not that much variety in the questions she’s asked and there’s lots annoying questions so there is a LOT of very boring repetition.. but if you’re really into octavia butler it’s still cool!! You can tell she is relentlessly awesome no matter how boring or annoying the person she’s talking to is. Fun to see what she’s asked continually and what she brings up over and over
June 22, 2018
Happy Birthday Octavia! Thank you for forever changing our imaginations and paving the way for women in speculative fiction! p.s. check out the google header for today :)
Read
June 22, 2020Kind of repetitive and some of the interviewers are literally so annoying. It's essential reading, though, if you're like me and have read all of Butler's books at least once. It really helps to draw lines between all the pieces of her body of work and it's fascinating to hear where some of her ideas came from. It's also heartbreaking to hear her talk about novels she was working on that didn't get finished before she died. She had so much left to say.
That all being said, I don't recommend this if you've only read a couple of her books because you probably won't get a lot out of it.
That all being said, I don't recommend this if you've only read a couple of her books because you probably won't get a lot out of it.
September 6, 2025
To read Octavia Butler is to read good literature-period.
- John C. Snider, in Conversations with Octavia Butler, p. 213
There's a certain degree of shock that comes every time I encounter something in one of these interviews with Octavia Butler that reminds me they are all at least twenty years old. That we were talking about the rise of fascism in the United States in the early 2000s with George W. Bush. That global warming has been a clear and present danger since the 1980s and earlier. That the warnings she wrote about where the US was headed in the 1990s were never intended as the prophecy that they have become. Octavia E. Butler died in 2006, but it is difficult to believe that she did not see the 2020s and try to warn us that they were coming.
If you've enjoyed Butler's fiction works, you will likely get a lot out of these interviews. I don't always agree with what she has to say about human beings, society, and culture, but I always respect it. There is some insight into her works - I wish there was more about Fledgling, her last work, and the research and other vampire stories she was thinking about when she wrote it. There's some repetition across the twenty-two interviews spanning twenty-five years - you'll read about the spark that prompted Kindred in a dozen or so of them - but there's also usually a new insight in each of them.
In the last answer of the last interview, conducted or at least published in 2006, Butler talks about the need for leadership with stronger ideals than Bill Clinton or John Kerry. It's a last reminder that the problems we face today have been foreseen, that we have been warned, that we knew everything that has happened in the last decade or so was coming and that we also had some idea of the solution. So I'm not going to pretend that reading these interviews will not contain seeds of pessimism, of hopelessness, not in what Butler has to say, but in the fact that she said them twenty, thirty, forty years ago and we did nothing about them ('we' being, largely, the United States, but also, to a degree, all of us). Butler's work remains relevant and important, but reading this collection really made me wish it was just excellent.
June 29, 2025
This compilation of interviews is a treat for readers familiar with Butler's work. It is, by necessity, repetitive in the background provided for each interview, and in the answers Butler gives to routinely asked questions. It becomes clear, though, what inspired her to create many of her signature works.
There are nuggets of information and especially of opinion that won't be found in a standard biography of Butler. As such, these direct quotations from her add to the picture of who she was, where she came from and what she was attempteing to do in her work.
There are nuggets of information and especially of opinion that won't be found in a standard biography of Butler. As such, these direct quotations from her add to the picture of who she was, where she came from and what she was attempteing to do in her work.
August 16, 2023
Though there's a fair chunk of material that's repeated here, that's to be expected, since the content is made up of interviews with Ms. Butler through the course of her life. Editing out the repeated material would have made for a shorter book and resulted in lost context, so editor Conseula Francis made the appropriate decision.
Among her answers to the oft-repeated questions found here, Ms. Butler sometimes offers small nuggets of thought or personal history, previously unrevealed. These are what make this kind of interview collection valuable to the Butler fan as well as scholar. Some of these interviews may be hard to track down separately, so Ms. Francis has done fans and scholars a big favor. There's very little extraneous text, and it's not needed: readers are certain to have come for Butler's words. They get them, lots of them, in her own unique style. This is a very worthwhile addition to any Butler fan's collection.
Among her answers to the oft-repeated questions found here, Ms. Butler sometimes offers small nuggets of thought or personal history, previously unrevealed. These are what make this kind of interview collection valuable to the Butler fan as well as scholar. Some of these interviews may be hard to track down separately, so Ms. Francis has done fans and scholars a big favor. There's very little extraneous text, and it's not needed: readers are certain to have come for Butler's words. They get them, lots of them, in her own unique style. This is a very worthwhile addition to any Butler fan's collection.
January 12, 2019
I was pretty sad finishing this book, because it's the last of the books I could find by or about Octavia Butler.
I'm glad I saved this book for last--having read all of her other books (besides Survivor, which seems impossible to find), it was nice to close this reading chapter of my life with a collection of interviews that explore the themes of her work.
As the introduction states, if you read the collection as a whole, it gets pretty repetitive pretty quickly. You also sympathize with her and other minority writers who are constantly asked the same questions, especially: How does being different influence your writing? While I appreciate the question and her answers (she definitely has a unique experience, and it's worth hearing), you can tell she finds it tedious, and after following her in many interviews, you begin to understand why. There seems to be an undercurrent of disbelief: how can you exist? that overshadows her actual work.
My favorite essay was "Radio Imagination" in which she describes the difference between reading and passively watching a screen. I have always said that the difference between reading and watching a screen is how much work you have to put into it. When you're reading, your mind has to work to imagine what's being described to you. You are a part of the creative process. And while film, television, and other entertainment can certainly stimulate the imagination, especially in terms of framing (what's outside the frame?), generally screen-time is a one-way relationship, an almost parasitic relationship (I say this as someone who loves TV and who would watch it for hours and hours and hours each day if life allowed it).
What is missing most, I think, from this collection is a look at how gender and sexual orientation play a role in her books. The fact that pretty much no one asked her anything related to these topics blows my mind. I would have loved to explore how she thought of the ooloi, if she were influenced by the gender questions of the day. I would have loved to hear what she thought about the AIDS epidemic, the treatment of which was greatly influenced by who it affected. I would love to hear what she thought about the gay civil rights movement. A truly lost opportunity.
I'm glad I saved this book for last--having read all of her other books (besides Survivor, which seems impossible to find), it was nice to close this reading chapter of my life with a collection of interviews that explore the themes of her work.
As the introduction states, if you read the collection as a whole, it gets pretty repetitive pretty quickly. You also sympathize with her and other minority writers who are constantly asked the same questions, especially: How does being different influence your writing? While I appreciate the question and her answers (she definitely has a unique experience, and it's worth hearing), you can tell she finds it tedious, and after following her in many interviews, you begin to understand why. There seems to be an undercurrent of disbelief: how can you exist? that overshadows her actual work.
My favorite essay was "Radio Imagination" in which she describes the difference between reading and passively watching a screen. I have always said that the difference between reading and watching a screen is how much work you have to put into it. When you're reading, your mind has to work to imagine what's being described to you. You are a part of the creative process. And while film, television, and other entertainment can certainly stimulate the imagination, especially in terms of framing (what's outside the frame?), generally screen-time is a one-way relationship, an almost parasitic relationship (I say this as someone who loves TV and who would watch it for hours and hours and hours each day if life allowed it).
What is missing most, I think, from this collection is a look at how gender and sexual orientation play a role in her books. The fact that pretty much no one asked her anything related to these topics blows my mind. I would have loved to explore how she thought of the ooloi, if she were influenced by the gender questions of the day. I would have loved to hear what she thought about the AIDS epidemic, the treatment of which was greatly influenced by who it affected. I would love to hear what she thought about the gay civil rights movement. A truly lost opportunity.
July 9, 2019
If you're a fan of Octavia Butler, it'll be hard for you to not like this book. With the collection of transcripts of interviews ranging all throughout her career, the reader gets a really vivid look into her mind: straight from her own words. This book provides much biographical information on her life, including her life growing up and her starting out as a writer. But the interviews, for the most part, provide insight on the common themes of her novels and the real world inspiration that backed her science fiction writing. The interviews look more at the why of what she wrote about rather than the how. And personally, I just find it fascinating to hear her speak and what she had to say in her lifetime. So this book may have something to offer even for people who haven't read a single book of hers, but are down for a read that challenges the reader.
I'd also recommend this book to:
Aspiring writers: This book has plenty of advice from Octavia to people who want to pursue writing. And since the interviews are chronological, you will see her bibliography gradually increase, and get unique insight into her writing process for her various books.
Those in search of a Black History Month read: You can consider "she's the only Black Female writer in science fiction" to be a mantra of sort in this book. Octavia is frequently asked how being a black woman informed her writing and her views. And some of the later interviews bring light to how Octavia Butler pioneered in publishing for other black authors to follow, with some interviewers even expressing their thanks to her for that.
I'd also recommend this book to:
Aspiring writers: This book has plenty of advice from Octavia to people who want to pursue writing. And since the interviews are chronological, you will see her bibliography gradually increase, and get unique insight into her writing process for her various books.
Those in search of a Black History Month read: You can consider "she's the only Black Female writer in science fiction" to be a mantra of sort in this book. Octavia is frequently asked how being a black woman informed her writing and her views. And some of the later interviews bring light to how Octavia Butler pioneered in publishing for other black authors to follow, with some interviewers even expressing their thanks to her for that.
September 28, 2021
I read Conversations with Octavia Bulter while writing a piece on who she was - her early life, what got her into writing, what she was known for, and the legacy she left behind.
Conversations proved to be more than a resource for research. The person who comes across in this collection of interviews is thoughtful, intelligent, resilient, brave, and did meaningful work. I was constantly in awe of how vulnerable Butler allows herself to be in these talks, how much of herself she's willing to share in public. More than that, reading this book made me realize that I found yet another kindred spirit. It made me want to read all her books - I've only read Kindred so far - and then have a long conversation with her about them.
Butler wrote - and spoke - about so much that is still relevant today - the politics of representation, what it means to write science fiction, the importance of both social commentary and a good story, her writing process and general writing advice, and directions - both frightening and hopeful - that humanity is taking. She has a strong voice - Butler has a number of opinions and isn't afraid to speak her mind. Halfway through the book, I imagined her voice as I read her words.
Some of this book felt repetitive, because of course a lot of the interviews ask the same questions. It was interesting to see how Butler answered each time - sometimes she summarized and other times she elaborated, but having different views helped me understand her answers better.
This book stimulated both my brain and my heart, and I felt a little less lonely after finishing it.
Conversations proved to be more than a resource for research. The person who comes across in this collection of interviews is thoughtful, intelligent, resilient, brave, and did meaningful work. I was constantly in awe of how vulnerable Butler allows herself to be in these talks, how much of herself she's willing to share in public. More than that, reading this book made me realize that I found yet another kindred spirit. It made me want to read all her books - I've only read Kindred so far - and then have a long conversation with her about them.
Butler wrote - and spoke - about so much that is still relevant today - the politics of representation, what it means to write science fiction, the importance of both social commentary and a good story, her writing process and general writing advice, and directions - both frightening and hopeful - that humanity is taking. She has a strong voice - Butler has a number of opinions and isn't afraid to speak her mind. Halfway through the book, I imagined her voice as I read her words.
Some of this book felt repetitive, because of course a lot of the interviews ask the same questions. It was interesting to see how Butler answered each time - sometimes she summarized and other times she elaborated, but having different views helped me understand her answers better.
This book stimulated both my brain and my heart, and I felt a little less lonely after finishing it.
May 18, 2023
I inhaled all except the last of Octavia Butler's works in early 2023 and then started on every book about her work and life. This collection of interviews over the course of her career covered much of the biographical material included in her books, but slowly revealed her motivations and world view. A few gems:
+ Writers must read a lot to "fill your well" of ideas, but must withdraw from that well occasionally.
+ Master writing about how you feel first, then write about real experience. That will prepare you to write how others feel about fictional experiences.
+ We have all these myths, and we believe in them without even recognizing they're there. We just act on them.. and that's liable to be our downfall.
+ Tolerance, like any aspect of peace, is forever a work in progress, never complete, and if we're as intelligent as we think, never abandoned. Put in the terms of Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks, Tolerance should be everyone's atelic activity.
- The only slight negative was the repetitiveness of some stories. Given the minimal editing, I suppose that's understandable.
Mirroring her own life, the book ended abruptly and on a slightly sad note. I wish I had discovered her work when she was alive and when I could have sat with her for a conversation. This book left me longing for more of her work, which is no longer possible. A must-read for fans of her excellent work.
+ Writers must read a lot to "fill your well" of ideas, but must withdraw from that well occasionally.
+ Master writing about how you feel first, then write about real experience. That will prepare you to write how others feel about fictional experiences.
+ We have all these myths, and we believe in them without even recognizing they're there. We just act on them.. and that's liable to be our downfall.
+ Tolerance, like any aspect of peace, is forever a work in progress, never complete, and if we're as intelligent as we think, never abandoned. Put in the terms of Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks, Tolerance should be everyone's atelic activity.
- The only slight negative was the repetitiveness of some stories. Given the minimal editing, I suppose that's understandable.
Mirroring her own life, the book ended abruptly and on a slightly sad note. I wish I had discovered her work when she was alive and when I could have sat with her for a conversation. This book left me longing for more of her work, which is no longer possible. A must-read for fans of her excellent work.
March 13, 2025
Three and a half stars. I've been wanting to read this for absolutely ages, and library interloan has come through! Butler is a fantastic writer; I've never read a book of hers that I haven't loved.
This particular book is a collection of interviews with Butler by journalists or reviewers or academics of one type or another. Naturally they focus on writing and science fiction, with questions of the "can you explain what you were thinking when?" and "what advice would you give to young writers" type. There is, it must be said, a great deal of repetition - there are only so many answers that Butler can give to very similar queries, and although her answers are always clear and often fascinating it was occasionally hard to resist the temptation to skim when the same story was told over and over.
Her political views are particularly interesting, especially in the light of current events over in the US. The final interview ends with the line "It's a shame we have had people who are so damn weak" - referring to politicians from the left side of American politics (or the centre-right anywhere else) and their inability to effectively attack the greed and ignorance of their counterparts. The more things change...
This particular book is a collection of interviews with Butler by journalists or reviewers or academics of one type or another. Naturally they focus on writing and science fiction, with questions of the "can you explain what you were thinking when?" and "what advice would you give to young writers" type. There is, it must be said, a great deal of repetition - there are only so many answers that Butler can give to very similar queries, and although her answers are always clear and often fascinating it was occasionally hard to resist the temptation to skim when the same story was told over and over.
Her political views are particularly interesting, especially in the light of current events over in the US. The final interview ends with the line "It's a shame we have had people who are so damn weak" - referring to politicians from the left side of American politics (or the centre-right anywhere else) and their inability to effectively attack the greed and ignorance of their counterparts. The more things change...
April 7, 2020
There's a lot of repetition here, in the questions Butler received but also in her rote answers; it speaks to the lack of depth in the average interview (and those which are more distinctive are rarely better for it, like the NPR interview with unlikable, ill-prepared Juan Williams or the issue-drive and jargon-loaded MELUS interview) but moreso to the ways Butler was pigeonholed by her distinctive role as the first black female sci-fi author. Butler's penchant for "grazing," gathering environmental/scientific and political topics from non-fiction and the news, doesn't translate well to interviews, which render the topics into reactionary soundbites. It's in fiction that they blossom, and tracing that evolution--disparate concepts, combined into utterly unique speculative premises, fully realized by the consequences of plot--adds depth to her work. So in every way that these collected interviews seem to fail, to be repetitive or shallow, they also provide insight into Butler and her craft. It's not hugely robust or, frankly, as interesting as a biography, but it's a welcome addition to my larger engagement with the author.
February 5, 2019
A good look into the life-history and creative processes of a major SF writer, through a collection of interviews with various newspapers, magazines, websites, and radio shows, over a 26-year period.
By the very nature of the book, there is some repetition. Interviewers ask the same, or similar, questions and get the same, or similar answers. (There is one vignette, about the genesis of Kindred, that reappears with very little variation, at least ten times.
It is a good vignette, though.) But every interview has some new nugget, right down to the final interview taken shortly before Butler's untimely and unfortunate death. The (or at least one) original, base intention/inspiration of all her major works is discussed, and she is very forthcoming.
She was an articulate interviewee, and seems to have been equally comfortable with academics, fans, local newspapers, and NPR hosts.
This book makes me sad for all the books Butler never got to write.
By the very nature of the book, there is some repetition. Interviewers ask the same, or similar, questions and get the same, or similar answers. (There is one vignette, about the genesis of Kindred, that reappears with very little variation, at least ten times.
It is a good vignette, though.) But every interview has some new nugget, right down to the final interview taken shortly before Butler's untimely and unfortunate death. The (or at least one) original, base intention/inspiration of all her major works is discussed, and she is very forthcoming.
She was an articulate interviewee, and seems to have been equally comfortable with academics, fans, local newspapers, and NPR hosts.
This book makes me sad for all the books Butler never got to write.
July 5, 2023
A very interesting read, and I appreciate that it gave me a chance to hear Octavia Butler's intentions and the thought process behind her work.
I'd recommend reading over time, since many interviews can be repetitive if you read one after another. I did best with this when I gave the interviews at least a couple days before reading the next.
One star off only because so many of the interviewers really fell short. They didn't seem to understand Octavia Butler's works, or give her enough time to answer in her own time. They were less interested in hearing her speak, and more interested in moving onto the next question. There were a few times where I felt like I could see the next question she wanted them to ask, or how they could dig in deeper to a concept she introduced, but they'd just move into something different. Calling this "Conversations with" felt like giving most of the interviewers too much credit.
I'd recommend reading over time, since many interviews can be repetitive if you read one after another. I did best with this when I gave the interviews at least a couple days before reading the next.
One star off only because so many of the interviewers really fell short. They didn't seem to understand Octavia Butler's works, or give her enough time to answer in her own time. They were less interested in hearing her speak, and more interested in moving onto the next question. There were a few times where I felt like I could see the next question she wanted them to ask, or how they could dig in deeper to a concept she introduced, but they'd just move into something different. Calling this "Conversations with" felt like giving most of the interviewers too much credit.
December 2, 2020
What I loved most about this career-spanning set of interviews was the repetition of clear ideas, themes, experiences that Butler was drawing on in order to spin out so many different amazing worlds and books and universes - she had a project and she stuck to it, and these interviews make that very clear.
“The nice thing about being a writer is that anything that doesn’t kill or dismember you is typewriter fodder.”
“The nice thing about being a writer is that anything that doesn’t kill or dismember you is typewriter fodder.”
January 24, 2018
I am always happy to read more by and about Butler. These interviews were a treat to read. I especially liked the interview with Charles Rowell, 1997. The interview with Juan Williams (NPR, 2000) was painfully awkward to read. He clearly did not know a lot about her works and even got one of her book titles wrong, ouch!
June 25, 2017
Extended reading for Butler completists. Reprints of every interview or public group discussion Butler had. A fair amount of redundancy due the common set of questions asked. The best were the group discussions whether more general themes were explored .
August 20, 2017
For anyone who is a fan of Butler's writing or simply wants to know more about this wonderful and inspiring writer, this book is a fascinating read. It collects interviews done with her over a span of decades, and each interview is well worth the read.
November 24, 2019
Brilliant collection of interviews. What a brilliant woman, and what an incisive mind. Lots of reflections on her books and some solid writing advice. I got this from the library and will be buying my own copy.
August 27, 2021
Just finished the last of Buter's published writings, and I saved her words here (in various interviews and commentaries) for the last. Sad that she did not live to finish Parable of the Trickster or more engaging ideas. Gone too soon. Vale! OEB...
December 21, 2021
It was a good one to read interview by interview with some time in between due to repetition. I finished it just after finishing Kindred and it was a good way to read the last of her that I hadn't yet read.
October 10, 2022
This was great. Granted it is dense and can be annoyingly repetitive but the information and context these conversations provide amazing insight. Octavia E. Butler is a wonder. Her genius rests in the fact that she pays attention and has the courage to speak and write towards it.
January 20, 2023
I adore Octavia Butler and her thinking and work. There are some truly terrible interviewers in this book that ask insipid and ridiculous questions to someone who deserved better. She responded with grace and intelligence, but honestly some parts were painful to read.
September 28, 2017
Thank you, auntie Octavia. "I don’t feel I have any particular literary talent at all. It was what I wanted to do, and I followed what I wanted to do."
June 29, 2018
Love reading OEB in her own voice. Lots of repetition here, but some interesting gems. More of a research volume than something to read start to finish, honestly.
February 7, 2019
pretty solid interview collection.
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