Butler as our first recipient of the Infinity Award is an inspiring and gratifying first step toward correcting past omissions.”īutler wrote sixteen novels and novellas, multiple collections and chapbooks, and many published essays. When we look back at the nearly sixty years of SFWA celebrating SFF creators, there are some who stand out as ones we deeply wish had been given our highest awards. Others were not recognized for their work during their lifetimes because of cultural prejudices and blind spots. Over the years, so many creators have been passed over for the Grand Master nod, for one reason or another.

SFWA President Jeffe Kennedy remarked, “Establishing this new award is very important to me. They are now being taught in over 200 colleges and universities nationwide. Her works offered prescient critiques of societal issues and visions of what might be possible in different and future worlds. Butler did more than prove such naysayers wrong. Beginning with her perseverance in the face of the prejudice she encountered early on in her career, including claims that African American writers–especially African American women writers–could not write science fiction, Butler ultimately went on to earn a MacArthur Grant and a PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award. Upon its creation, it was also unanimously agreed that Octavia E. This new award aims to recognize that even though those celebrated worldbuilders, storytellers, and weavers of words are no longer with us, their legacies will continue to inspire. The SFWA Board voted to create the Infinity Award to posthumously honor acclaimed creators who passed away before they could be considered for a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.

Butler (1947–2006) at the 58th Annual Nebula Awards® Ceremony on May 14. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is proud to announce the creation of the Infinity Award, with its inaugural presentation honoring the works and career of Octavia E. The Inaugural Infinity Award Honoree: Octavia E.

SFWA Middle Grade and Young Adult Writers.

Operating Policies and Procedures (OPPM).

Kindred octavia butler