Acclaimed novelist Ibi Zoboi illuminates the young life of the visionary storyteller Octavia E. Butler in poems and prose. Born into the Space Race, the Red Scare, and the dawning Civil Rights Movement, Butler experienced an American childhood that shaped her into the groundbreaking science-fiction storyteller whose novels continue to challenge and delight readers fifteen years after her death.
Cover art © 2022 by Zharia Shinn
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
January 25, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593503249
- File size: 43619 KB
- Duration: 01:30:52
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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AudioFile Magazine
Ibi Zoboi's biography of science fiction writer Octavia Butler presents a clear picture of her work and of what life was like when Butler was growing up. Narrator Robin Miles's smooth and honeyed voice alternates with Zoboi's higher, lighter pitch as the two make the most of the text's poetry and prose. The audiobook explains the major events of the day and how they influenced Butler's writing. When Zoboi speaks of how she herself became acquainted with Butler, she does so with a warmth and conviction that help convey the influence the MacArthur Fellowship winner had on her own work. Listeners new to Octavia E. Butler are likely to seek out her books for themselves. E.J.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine -
Publisher's Weekly
November 29, 2021
Alternating between verse forms, prose interludes, and direct quotations, Zoboi (The People Remember) recounts the life and career of legendary speculative fiction writer Octavia Butler (1947–2006), emphasizing her beginnings as a “star child” (her middle name, Estelle, means “star”). A sweeping mix of allusive poetry and contextualizing prose traces Butler’s birth during the baby boom and childhood “raised by her mother and grandmother—two hardworking and God-fearing matriarchs” in unsegregated Pasadena, Calif. Portraying Butler as a solitary child who “always seemed distant and aloof,” Zoboi traces the determined figure’s initial forays into literature, first as a reader and then as a creator of worlds. Examples cover Butler’s first novel, penned in her trusty pink notebook at age 10; early submissions to editors at age 13; and her subsequent focus on science fiction and making “imagination her life’s mission.” In a turn toward memoir, one section recounts Zoboi’s commonalities with Butler, including thebirthday they share and conversations between them. More extensive ode than strict biography, this is a fittingly expansive tribute to Butler’s visionary mind and the childhood that sowed it. Ages 10–up. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary.
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Formats
- OverDrive Listen audiobook
Languages
- English
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