Beloved Sci-Fi Author Octavia Butler’s Gravesite Survived the Los Angeles Fire
In The image of the sower, fire-ravaged California is enduring a climate change future that is now a reality. In a 1993 fiction classic, American science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, who lived near Altadena, predicted the catastrophic fires of Los Angeles.
The grave of the Afrofuturist rests in Altadena, which has been hit hard amid recent fires that have left thousands of Californians homeless. But his burial site survived: the AP shared a photo of the site and reported that it found “minor damage,” citing a statement on Altadena Mountain View Cemetery’s website. Butler passed in 2006 and his headstone reads “All you touch, you change. Everything that changes, changes,” is a quote from it The Picture of the Sower.
Altadena, which CBS News describes as a “historically Black community,” is now working to rebuild. Octavia’s Bookshelf, a Pasadena bookstore named after the inspirational author, is an institution that works tirelessly to support Butler’s beloved Los Angeles enclave. For more information on how to help with relief efforts visit here.
Watch the interview below with Octavia Bookshelf owner Nikki High about the work they do—and Altadena’s importance as a great American city that should be preserved and not bought by real estate investors.
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