By Niela Orr
FROM: Alta

The language surrounding artistic marginalia is predictably prepositional: posthumously published notebooks promise a look behind, beneath, inside. In 2016, Dustin Illingworth extolled the material in writers’ diaries, journals, and archives: “Far from the intimidating polish of more august work, the author’s journal reveals the human substance beneath the cultural effigy.”

Yet what of those who want a different perspective: a look over? Through, near, along? Imagine reading a book that uncovers the psyche of a vaunted figure rather than excavates her artistic remains. Where might such an approach take us? What could it reveal? The questions sit at the center of Lynell George’s A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler.

Butler was born and raised in Pasadena and essentially willed herself to become a writer. When she died in 2006, her contributions to science fiction and the American literary canon were well established. The author of more than a dozen books, she was the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant and a number of Nebula and Hugo Awards. In the years since, her reputation has only grown.

It’s easy to find Butler quotes on Instagram, converted into pithy memes. In February, Ava DuVernay and Amazon Studios announced that they would partner on an adaptation of her 1987 novel, Dawn. Just a few months later, author Tananarive Due and scholar Dr. Monica Coleman hosted a series of webinars called “Octavia Tried to Tell Us: Parable for Today’s Pandemic,” which used Parable of the Sower (1993) to engage the systemic issues that COVID-19 had exposed. Read Rest of Review Here