Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction‬

There’s the flu vaccine. The covid shot. The RSV shot… What if all of these—and more—could be combined into one universal vaccine? That’s what immunologist Bali Pulendran is working on in his lab. For this episode in our Tech Camp series, Regina G. Barber talks to him about how f ...  Show more

Did you know that when you pick up avocados at the supermarket, make avocado toast at home or order guacamole in your burrito, you’re probably consuming only one genetic type of avocado? Yep, it’s the Hass avocado. Since it originated in California in the 20th century, it’s been ...  Show more

In this visionary and introspective episode of The Passage, the Ferryman, voiced by Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, The Walking Dead), welcomes a soul whose pen crafted worlds and whose imagination reshaped the boundaries of science fiction. Octavia Butler vo ...  Show more

In 1995, Octavia E Butler became the first author to receive a MacArthur “genius” award for science fiction writing. From a young age she dreamed of writing books, but faced many challenges, including poverty, sexism and racism in the publishing industry. She died aged 58 in 2006 ...  Show more

During Black History month, Book of the Day is bringing you some interviews from the archives, including this one with author Octavia Butler. Butler wrote many sci-fi classics, like the Parable series and Kindred, so she's accustomed to imagining different worlds. NPR's Scott Sim ...  Show more

Is science fiction too white? Kim Chakanetsa meets two women who are diversifying the genre. They talk about finding inspiration, dealing with rejection, and what Afrofuturism means to them. N.K. Jemisin is an African-American psychologist and science fiction writer. Her Bro ...