‘Genius’ sci-fi writer Octavia E Butler
Witness History

‘Genius’ sci-fi writer Octavia E Butler

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 2, 202610 min

In 1995, Octavia E Butler became the first author to receive a MacArthur “genius” award for science fiction writing. From a young age she dreamed of writing books, but faced many challenges, including poverty, sexism and racism in the publishing industry. Her sci-fi books are now taught in schools and universities across the United States. She died aged 58 in 2006. Her friend Nisi Shawl spoke to Alex Collins in 2023. Witness History is a short BBC World Service podcast about history that takes you inside big moments from the past through first-hand testimony and arch...

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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Expose it all. Cyberhack, Season 4, The Conti Files. All episodes available now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. It's a Hello and welcome to Witness History from the BBC World Service. If you've heard us before,

1:22

do feel free to skip on a few seconds. But if you haven't, then thanks for giving us a try. We're the podcast that brings history to life in just nine minutes, through the eyes of one key witness and lots of truly amazing news archive. So if you enjoy it, please subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts. And now, this is the story of one of the first

1:47

African-American women to break into the world of science fiction, during a writing career that's been described as visionary. Alex Collins spoke to one of her closest friends. It's 1995 and Octavia Butler has found out

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