Octavia E. Butler - 30

'I began writing about power because I had so little', Octavia E.

Butler once said. Butler's life as an African American woman - an alien in American society and among science fiction writers - informed the powerful works that earned her an ardent readership and acclaim both inside and outside science fiction.

Gerry Canavan offers a critical and holistic consideration of Butler's career.

Drawing on her personal papers, he tracks the false starts, abandoned drafts, tireless rewrites, and real-life obstacles that fed her frustrations and launched her triumphs.