Octavia Butler's 'Kindred' Is Being Discovered By New Readers, And Viewers

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4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2022

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the 1979 novel "Kindred," author Octavia Butler sent her main character – a Black woman – back to the antebellum south of the 1800s.

The sci-fi book is a modern classic – a cornerstone of afro-futurism that made waves in a genre dominated by white men. "Kindred" is still being discovered by new readers today – and by viewers. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins adapted "Kindred" into a new FX series of the same name on Hulu.

We speak with Jacobs-Jenkins about making the first on-screen adaptation of the late, and pioneering Octavia Butler's work and why it still resonates with readers, and now viewers, decades later.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Imagine suddenly being pulled back in time without warning or explanation.
0:14.0	Where is the place you'd least like to go?
0:17.7	In the 1979 novel, Kendra, author Octavia Butler sent her main character, a black woman,
0:24.1	back to the anti-bellum south of the 1800s.
0:27.3	She made a lands among her ancestors on a slave plantation.
0:31.4	The sci-fi book is a modern classic, a cornerstone of dark fantasy that made waves in a genre
0:36.7	dominated by white men.
0:38.6	Kendra is still being discovered by new readers today and now by viewers.
0:43.6	We just like fell through the matrix, Dana.
0:46.8	There just has to be some way that we can prove that this is real, that this actually
0:53.8	happened.
0:54.8	Prove it to who?
0:56.5	And what would that do?
0:58.0	Make it stop?
0:59.0	No.
1:00.0	What if you never go back?
1:03.0	What if proof is as fine?
1:05.9	It happens when he panics.
1:08.2	I'm definitely going back, it's just a matter of when.
1:11.1	That's from the new FX series Kendra streaming now on Hulu.
1:15.5	After the break, executive producer, showrunner and writer Brandon Jacobs-Jinkins joins us
1:21.2	to discuss the show and why Octavia Butler's work still resonates with readers and now viewers
	...

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