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September 12, 2022
Thank you for joining the Mary Ann Key Book Club in a collective effort to read, learn, discuss, and foster the change we need to see in our community.
There are a series of jarring phrases at the beginning of Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower,” our fourth choice for the Mary Ann Key Book Club. The dystopian novel begins with Lauren Olamina, a teenager, riding to a church with her father, stepmother and others through a world that’s collapsed into itself. They’re all armed as they witness images no young person should have to see.
As Lauren reflects on a robbery and murder of her grandparents, she makes a statement that acknowledges the rapidity with which her world has changed. “Crazy to live without a wall to protect you.”
I was struck by the authenticity of that quote in a world, today, where nothing seems sufficient to protect us. But I don’t think Octavia E. Butler could have known that everything she detailed in this book would be unfolding right now, it seems, as she predicted. I also think the sometimes startling text and gripping imagery is part of her strategy. I am choosing to read this book as a warning more than a prophecy. And I think Butler’s message is clear: Can we live in a way that prevents this future for those who will follow us? I don’t believe she intends to scare us. I think Butler wanted us to do everything in our power to avoid the world she described. Overall, I believe she is saying that this is our duty. And she is right.
Thursday, October 6, 7-8:30 p.m. via Zoom
Join columnist Myron Medcalf and Dr. Tarshia Stanley in a discussion of “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia E. Butler, renowned African American author and MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient who passed away in 2006. Medcalf and Dr. Stanley, President of the Octavia E. Butler Society, will discuss the elements of Butler’s writing, how she uses speculative fiction to highlight inequities and opportunities for positive change, and her literary and cultural impact and influence.
Registration required.
Collaborator: Star Tribune
Sponsor: Friends of the Hennepin County Library
Tarshia L. Stanley is Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Wagner College in Staten Island, New York.
Her areas of focus are film and media studies and African American speculative fiction. Stanley has authored articles critiquing Black women in African, African American, and Caribbean cinema, as well as Black female iconography in American popular culture. She edited The Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Literature for Greenwood Press and a volume for the Modern Language Association’s teaching series entitled Approaches to Teaching the Works of Octavia E. Butler which was the 2021 recipient of the Idaho State University Department of English and Philosophy’s Teaching Literature Book Award.
Her most recent essays on Butler are: “Shapers of God: Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Womanist Theological Practice” in God Is Change: Religious Practices and Ideologies in the Works of Octavia Butler. Ed. Aparajita Nanda and Shelby L. Crosby. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2021; and, “Re-Read and Recover: Afrofuturism as a Reading Practice in George S. Schuyler’s Black No More and Octavia E. Butler’s “The Book of Martha,”” in Race and Utopian Desire in American Literature and Society. Ed. Edward Chan and Patricia Ventura. London: Palgrave McMillian, 2019.
Prior to joining Wagner College, Stanley was dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Sciences at St. Catherine University where developed and launched the Integrated Learning Series linking curriculum and programming across the University in ways that enhance experiential learning in the community. Stanley spent nearly two decades at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, where she served as director of the E.W. Githii Honors Program, and before that as the chair of the Department of English.
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Resources for reading, listening and learning
Check out this Hennepin County Library suggested reading list: If you like the novel "Parable of the Sower".
Share your feedback and questions
Tell us your thoughts as you read “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler. Share your feedback, reflections or questions. Responses and questions may be shared with Myron Medcalf and library staff, and quotes may be shared with readers through our newsletter.
Writer to Writer: Marcie Rendon and Leya Hale
Tuesday, September 13, 6:30-8 p.m.
Join author and playwright, Marcie Rendon (White Earth Nation) and documentary producer Leya Hale (Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Diné Nations) in a conversation on their writing and their lives. They will also discuss issues that affect their Indigenous communities such as generational trauma, reclaiming Indigenous cultures and languages, murdered and missing Native people and more. Collaborator: More Than a Single Story. This program is funded by money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Registration required.
Writing to Tell a Story
Wednesday, September 21, 5-7 p.m.
Franklin Library
Dakota and Diné Documentary Producer, Leya Hale, will share her process for developing story structures and character narratives for non-fiction documentary storytelling. The workshop will be followed by a Q&A. Collaborator: More Than a Single Story. This program is funded with money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Registration required.
Writing Strong Characters
Thursday, September 29, 6-8 p.m.
Nokomis Library
Whether you are writing a short story or a novel, a memoir or even a poem, your characters need to be full and round. Marcie Rendon (White Earth Nation) will provide writing exercises to create and develop strong, memorable characters. We will share our work and engage in a brief Q&A about the business of writing. Collaborator: More Than a Single Story. This program is funded with money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Registration required.
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