City Spending $1 Million on Police Department Study
Forum Features Final Three Eyeing Compton Center Provost Position
College Hot Topic at NAACP, Concerned Citizens Candidates Forum
Churches Uniting to Form Interfaith Youth Sports League
Compton Students Practice to Make Perfect on Job Interviews
School District to Benefit from Governor’s Revisions to State Budget Proposal
City, Sheriff’s Department Celebrate New Substation at Gateway Towne Center
Joseph
Phillips:
Good Cops: The Men and Women Patrolling Our Streets Care
Churches Uniting to Form Interfaith Youth Sports League
From
staff reports
Both
having had personal relationships with African-American science fiction
novelist Octavia E. Butler, the writing couple Tananarive Due and Steven
Barnes will offer her a special tribute during the 2nd Annual Leimert
Park Village Book Fair to be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. this Saturday,
May 31 in Leimert Park Village, Degnan Boulevard. at 43rd Street in
Los Angeles.
Considered the first African-American woman to gain critical acclaim
as a major science fiction writer, Butler will receive a posthumous
tribute for the work that she did and how she influenced other writers.
The event is themed “Celebrating Our Literary Legacy: Our Heritage,
Our Words, Our Stories (Preserving Our Past/Building Our Future).
“It is an honor to take part in the 2008 Leimert Park Book Fair
honoring the late pioneering novelist Octavia E. Butler, winner of
a MacArthur
genius grant and too many awards to name,” said Due. “She
was philosopher, warrior, queen.”
A Pasadena native, Butler was the recipient of many top awards including
the Hugo Award, Nebula Award and MacArthur grant, before succumbing
to a head injury in 2006. Her popular works included “Kindred,” “Dawn,” “Wild
Seed,” “Patternmaster,” “Mind of My Mind,” “Survivor,” “Clay’s
Ark,” “Adulthood,” “Fledgling,” “Parable
of the Sower” and others.
“I miss Octavia’s voice. I miss her laugh. I
miss her vision. I miss her fierce devotion to humankind and the
notion of justice among the planet’s creatures,” said Due. “When
she died, untold volumes of stories and experiences and stories of
future and past were stolen from us.”
Due and fellow writer/husband Barnes most recently received commendation
for co-writing the well received novel “Casanegra” with
actor Blair Underwood.
“Octavia E. Butler put more hours, more love, more of herself
into her work than anyone it has been my slightly awe-stricken pleasure
to observe,” said
Barnes. “I felt that if I could achieve a fraction of the
clarity that this woman possessed in the arena of writing, I would
be fortunate beyond belief.
“We all pay a price for who and what we become in life. I believe
that what most people call ‘talent’ or ‘genius’ is
the ability to focus, to sacrifice, to keep the attention on a single
task until it is mastered,” continued Barnes. “All other
skills flow from this one quality. Octavia took this quality to
the level of mastery. She was one of the greatest writers the
field of science fiction has every produced, and one of the greatest
writers of the 20th century – a mind and spirit that never ceased
to inspire. And, for more than 20 years, she was my friend. God,
how I miss her.”
The second annual book fair will feature authors, storytellers, spoken
word artists, a poets stage featuring renowned essayist and novelist
Ishmael Reed as well as a poetry writing workshop that will include
a discussion on “Black Space: Imaging Race in Science Fiction
Films” by author and CSUN Professor, Dr. Adilifu Nama and Herbert
Jefferson Jr. of “Battlestar Galactica.”
The event will be rounded out with a parade of cartoonists, illustrators
and comic writers, in addition to a children’s Super Heroes stage
featuring Dave Justice from “American Gladiator,” animated
film screenings from the Hollywood Black Film Festival, special panels,
exhibitions and presentations with a science fiction premise and a
museum row including the California African American Museum and the
Mayme A. Clayton Museum and library.
“We recognize and respect the genius of Octavia Butler and want
others to do the same,” offered book fair founder Cynthia E.
Exum. “We
are hoping to have the same type turnout as last year – more
than 200 authors, 74 vendors and 5,000 visiting participants – to
help us celebrate this creative genius.”
To accommodate the anticipated crowd, book fair coordinators will provide
shuttle transportation between Leimert Park Village and the Baldwin
Hills Crenshaw Mall.
For additional information call (323) 730-0628 or visit the book fair’s
official Website at www.leimertparkbookfair.com.
ADVERTISE | CLASSIFIEDS | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBE | HOME
This site and its contents ©2008 thecomptonbulletin.com