Octavia Estelle Butler was born in Pasadena, California in 1958. She died in Lake Forest Park, Washington in 2006. In between, she published dozens of novels, short stories, essays, and speeches that critiqued contemporary American hierarchies, praised the strength of survivors, and effectively reinvented ideas of what it means to be human in a post-industrial society. She was the first science fiction writer to ever be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, and she won many awards, including the Hugo and Nebula awards. This online collection from the Huntington Library contains photographs of Butler, copies of her hand-corrected transcripts, and other fascinating artifacts. Delving into the rich material here, readers may begin to feel that they are introduced to Butler, not just as an author, but as a black woman living through the turbulence and promise of the late 20th century.