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From NPR.

Hey everybody, Emily Quang here.

Sadly, we are wrapping up Science Fiction Week today, but we're going to do it in style

with a very special episode from our friends at NPR's History Podcast, ThruLine.

As part of their Imagining New World series, they dove in this episode into the life of

visionary science fiction writer, Octavia Butler.

Octavia crafted cautionary tales combined with messages of hope and resilience.

Her work made her the first black woman to win the Hugo and Nebula, science fiction's

most prestigious awards.

And as a huge fan of Octavia and her work, I am excited for this one.

Alright, let's get to it.

Does it ever seem to you that there are people among us who hold up the sky and make the

rivers flow?

People who are just like other people, just like the rest of us, only different.

They're the structural beams in the house we all share.

The house that has a sky for a roof, and usually they don't want to call attention to themselves.

They just want to be who they are, do what they do with this little interference as possible.

Octavia comes to my mind as first among that group of people.

In her books, she showed us the horrors and the great good that humans can create, and

the choices that she made in her books and in her life always gave us new ways of seeing.

She was a beacon of hope.

...