Celebrate Octavia Butler on June 22 - 23, 2025

Octavia Butler at book signing 
Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The City of Lake Forest Park City Council has declared June 22 Octavia Butler day. 

Octavia Butler is an award-winning American science fiction author; pioneer of Afrofuturism and she lived in Lake Forest Park the last 10 years of her life.

Butler's books have sold over 1.5 million copies. 

Recently a new generation was introduced to her through the HBO movie Kindred on Hulu. The production was based on her novel.

Her “parable series” The Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Talents are novels read by new readers even 20 years after their publication.

Want to learn more about Lake Forest Park’s famous writer? Two events are coming up:

First, on June 23, there will be a presentation about Octavia Butler. It will include a video interview with Octavia and then a panel discussion led by writers from Clarion West where Octavia Butler taught and mentored. 

Two of her contemporaries, Nisi Shawl and Kathleen Alcalá, along with Caren Gussoff, recipient of the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship, will be part of the panel.

The presentation will be on the stage at Third Place Commons 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park at 6:30pm.

Second, a new biography of Octavia Butler called "Octavia Butler Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler" will be published this summer. The author, Susana M. Morris, will be at Third Place Books to discuss her new biography on Wednesday, July 16, 2025 at 7pm.

Lake Forest Park named a street for Ms. Butler and the Washington Trails Association has a walk to her home. Directions to take the hike are in this article in the Washington Trails Association publication.