In February, we brought you the sad news that Octavia Butler, the genius science fiction writer, had died unexpectedly.
Now a charitable scholarship has been founded her name. The Octavia E. Butler
Memorial Scholarship Fund will "will enable writers of color to attend one of the Clarion writing workshops, where Octavia got her start." These are the science fiction writers' workshops in Seattle and East Lansing that serve as a kind of "boot camp for science fiction writers," graduating talented writers who often go on to fame in the field and outside of it (I am on the Board of Directors of the charity that oversees Clarion East).
The charity is seeking tax-deductible donations to raise a full endowment of $100,000.
Octavia E. Butler (1947 – 2006) was a brilliant African American writer who broke barriers with her courageous and profoundly truthful books and stories. Winner of many awards including a MacArthur Fellowship, and speculative fiction's highest honors, the Hugo and the Nebula, Octavia was greatly loved during her lifetime and will be greatly missed.
(Thanks, Alex!)