President's Series: Inspired by Octavia E. Butler - A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: Lynell George in conversation with William Deverell and Karla Nielsen

Writer Lynell George discusses her forthcoming book, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler, and her experience in The Huntington archives, in conversation with William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute for California and the West and professor of history at USC, and Karla Nielsen, curator of literary collections at The Huntington. George is a Los Angeles-based journalist and essayist. She is the author of three books of nonfiction including After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame. She began working in the Octavia E. Butler archive at The Huntington soon after it opened for research. Through the objects and documents in the archive, she came to know and identify with the renowned Black author who grew up not far from where George lives in Pasadena.

Images from the Octavia E. Butler archive shown with permission from the Butler estate.

Lynell George's  A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler is available in the Huntington Store.