This powerful graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s groundbreaking dystopian novel stands beside the acclaimed previous graphic novel adaptations, Kindred, a #1 New York Times bestseller, and Parable of the Sower, winner of the Hugo Award Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the A Graphic Novel Adaptation is the continuation of the travails of Lauren Olamina. Brought to life by Damian Duffy and John Jennings, the creative team behind the #1 New York Times bestseller A Graphic Novel Adaptation, Parable of the Talents is told in the voice of Lauren Olamina’s daughter, Asha Vere—from whom she has been separated for most of the girl’s life—interspersed with sections in the form of Lauren’s own journals. Against a background of a war-torn continent under the control of a Christian fundamentalist fascist state, Asha searches for answers about her own past while struggling to reconcile with her mother’s legacy—caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future among the stars. Octavia E. Butler's bestselling literary science-fiction masterpieces are essential works in feminist, Afrofuturist, and fantasy genres, and this compelling graphic novel adaptation of Parable of the Talents is a major event.
Authors
Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant. After her father died, Butler was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Octavia found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. She attended community college during the Black Power movement, and while participating in a local writer's workshop was encouraged to attend the Clarion Workshop, which focused on science fiction. She soon sold her first stories and by the late 1970s had become sufficiently successful as an author that she was able to pursue writing full-time. Her books and short stories drew the favorable attention of the public and awards judges. She also taught writer's workshops, and eventually relocated to Washington state. Butler died of a stroke at the age of 58. Her papers are held in the research collection of the Huntington Library.
Damian Duffy is a cartoonist, scholar, writer, curator, lecturer, teacher, and Glyph Comics Award-winning graphic novelist. He holds a MS and PhD in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His many publications include academic essays (in comics form) on new media & learning and art books about underrepresentation in comics culture. On his off hours he teaches classes on cultural politics of computers and/or wrestles his children. A co-founder of Eye Trauma Studios, Damian has given talks and lead workshops about comics, art, and education internationally.
