Pratt Page-Turners Book Club

Join us for a discussion of Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris. This program has a hybrid format. Participate either in person or on Zoom. As the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fiction, Octavia Butler was a trailblazer. With her deft pen, she created stories speculating on the devolution of the American empire, using it as an apt metaphor for the best and worst of humanity: our innovation and ingenuity, our naked greed and ambition, our propensity for violence and hierarchy. Her fiction charts the rise and fall of the American project—the nation's transformation from a provincial backwater to a capitalist juggernaut made possible by chattel slavery, to a bloated imperialist superpower on the verge of implosion. In this outstanding work, Susana M. Morris places Butler's story firmly within the cultural, social, and historical context that shaped her life: the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power, women's liberation, queer rights, Reaganomics. Morris reveals how these influences profoundly impacted Butler's personal and intellectual trajectory and shaped the ideas central to her writing. Her cautionary tales warn us about succumbing to fascism, gender-based violence, and climate chaos while offering alternate paradigms to religion, family, and understanding our relationships to ourselves. Butler envisioned futures with Black women at the center, raising our awareness of how those who are often dismissed have the knowledge to shift the landscape of our world. For help obtaining a copy of the book or more information about the book club, please email [email protected]. Free parking validation stickers will be available to program attendees who park at the Franklin Street Garage (15 W. Franklin Street) while supplies last. Take a ticket when you enter the garage, and ask Pratt event staff for your parking validation sticker prior to or after the program.