In this episode, we explore the life and work of Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006), a groundbreaking science fiction writer and visionary widely considered a prophet for her eerily accurate predictions about our current world.Born in Pasadena, California to a working-class Black family, Butler overcame poverty, dyslexia, and systemic barriers to become one of the first major Black women in science fiction. Her work explored themes of power, evolution, and survival through an unflinching examination of social issues, becoming foundational to Afrofuturism and feminist science fiction.Butler won the MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship in 1995, the first science fiction writer to receive this honor. Her most famous works include Kindred (1979), a time-travel novel confronting slavery's legacy, and the Parable series (1993-1998), set in 2024-2027, which predicted climate-fueled fires, political authoritarianism using the slogan "Make America Great Again," wealth inequality, and social collapse with startling precision.She passed away unexpectedly in 2006 at age 58, leaving behind an unfinished vision but a legacy that grows more relevant each year. As she once said: "I began writing about power because I had so little."Sources:"A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler" by Lynell George"A Few Rules For Predicting The Future" by Octavia Butler"Octavia Butler, The Grand Dame of Science Fiction | It's Lit" PBS YouTube"Octavia E. Butler." Wikipedia"Biography of Octavia E. Butler" - Biography.com (https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/octavia-e-butler)"Octavia Butler" - Yale Dyslexia (https://dyslexia.yale.edu/story/octavia-butler/)"Parable of the Sower" and "Parable of the Talents" by Octavia ButlerPBS Digital Studios documentary transcript on Octavia ButlerVarious interviews and essays by ButlerRecent coverage of LA fires and Butler's predictionsAcademic analyses of Butler's work and influence