Octavia Estelle Butler adalah seorang penulis fiksi ilmiah dan fiksi spekulatifAmerika Serikat. Ia lahir di Pasadena, California pada 22 Juni 1447 dan meninggal dunia pada 24 Februari 2006. Sejak masih kecil ia sangat menyukai dunia fiksi, ia selalu memiliki cara untuk pergi ke perpustakaan dan menghabiskan sebagian besar waktunya untuk membaca. Ia melanjutkan pendidikan di perguruan tinggi Community College selama gerakan Black Power pada tahun 1960-an. Sejak remaja, ia telah memulai untuk menulis fiksi. Pertama kali menjual karyanya pada agenda Lokakarya Clarion yang fokus pada fiksi. Kariernya semakin pesat setelah ia memasuki usia pada tahun 1970-an dengan menjadi penulis fiksi yang sukses menjual karyanya. Ia menerima banyak penghargaan dari karya tulisnya, seperti Hugo, Locus, dan Nebula. Tahun 1995 pula ia bahkan menjadi penulis fiksi pertama yang mendapatkan penghargaan MacArthur Fellowship. Ia bercerita tentang pengalamannya sebagai seorang Afrika-Amerika dan menggunakan tema-tema tersebut dalam fiksi ilmiah. Karya tulis Butler disimpan dalam koleksi penelitian Perpustakaan Huntington di San Marino, California.[1][2]
Penghargaan
1980: Creative Arts Award, L.A. YWCA.
1984: Hugo Award for Best Short Story – "Speech Sounds"
1984: Nebula Award for Best Novelette – "Bloodchild"
1985: Locus Award for Best Novelette – "Bloodchild"
1985: Hugo Award for Best Novelette – "Bloodchild"
1985: Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Best Novelette – "Bloodchild"
1988: Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Best Novelette – "The Evening and the Morning and the Night"
1995: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant
1995: Bloodchild, a New York Times Notable Book
1997: Honorary Degree in Humane Letters, from Kenyon College
1998: James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List– Parable of the Talents
1999: Los Angeles Times Bestseller – Parable of the Talents
1999: Nebula Award for Best Novel – Parable of the Talents
2001: Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist – Parable of the Talents
2000: Lifetime Achievement Award in Writing from the PEN American Center
2005: Langston Hughes Medal of The City College
2010: Inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame
2012: Solstice Award.
2018: The International Astronomical Union named a mountain on Charon (a moon of Pluto) Butler Mons to honor the author, after a public suggestion period and nomination by NASA.
2018: Google featured her in a Google Doodle in the United States on June 22, 2018, which would have been Butler's 71st birthday.
2019: Asteroid 7052 Octaviabutler, discovered by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory in 1988, was named in her memory. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on August 27, 2019 (M.P.C. 115893).
2019: Los Angeles Public Library opened the Octavia Lab, a do-it-yourself maker space and audiovisual space named in Butler's honor.
2021: Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
2021: NASA named the Mars landing site of the Perseverance rover the "Octavia E. Butler Landing" in her honor.
2022: Awarded the first-ever Infinity Award by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, given to those who have died before they could be considered for a Grand Master award.
2022: The school Butler attended for middle school changed its name to Octavia E. Butler Magnet.
2023: In February 2023, a bookstore named Octavia's Bookshelf opened in Pasadena, California.[3][4]
