SOURCE: "Black Women and the Science Fiction Genre," in Black Scholar, Vol. 17, No. 2, March/April, 1986, pp. 14-8.

In the following interview, Butler discusses the science fiction genre, her career, and themes in her work.

Octavia Butler is a Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction writer. One of very few black writers who have selected this genre as their focus, she is a Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop graduate. Her books include, Clays Ark, Kindred, Mind of My Mind, Patternmaster, Wild Seed and Survivor. This interview was conducted by Black Scholar Associate Editor Frances M. Beal on October 29, 1985, in East Lansing, Michigan.

[Beal:] Why did you decide to turn your writing skills to the science fiction genre?

[Butler:] I didn't decide to become a science fiction writer. It just happened. I was writing when I was 10 years old. I was writing my own little stories and when I was...