Pasadena, California (June 22, 1947 -February 24, 2006) age 58 yrs

Octavia Estelle Butler was an African American science fiction writer, one of very few African American women in the field. She was a multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science-fiction writer to get a MacArthur Fellowship. Butler considered shy and a “daydreamer”, was diagnosed as dyslexic. She began writing at the age of 10 “to escape loneliness and boredom.” At 12, she began a lifelong interest in science fiction.