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Sowing Community: Living with Octavia E. Butler’s Parables
Founders’ Day 2025
Posted on Tue., April 22, 2025
The Huntington, which holds Octavia E. Butler’s archive, hosted a special conversation on March 26, 2025, about Butler’s novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, which focus on themes of resilience, community, and social change. Moderator Monique Thomas and panelists Nikki High, Tamisha A. Tyler, and John Williams explored Butler’s call to community building, her influence on writers and activists, and how her fiction does—and doesn’t—speak to the present moment.
Octavia E. Butler’s 1993 novel Parable of the Sower begins in a dystopian Southern California in 2024, following teenager Lauren Olamina and an expanding circle of companions as they confront violence, earthquakes, fires, and scarce resources. The group makes their way to Northern California to establish a new community based on the principles of Earthseed, a religion that Lauren develops in response to the social, political, and climatological distress in the world around her.
FEATURED GUESTS
Nikki High is the owner of Octavia’s Bookshelf, a Black-owned independent bookstore in Pasadena that celebrates BIPOC authors and serves as a place for community connections. A former communications executive with Trader Joe’s, High opened Octavia’s Bookshelf in 2023 to create a welcoming space for readers of all walks of life to enjoy magical stories and discover specially curated products from artisans from the neighborhood and around the world. The bookstore’s name honors Octavia E. Butler, an Altadena/Pasadena native, award-winning sci-fi author, and MacArthur Fellow.
Tamisha A. Tyler (she/her/hers) is a visiting assistant professor of theology and culture and theopoetics at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Indiana. She also serves as a theologian-in-residence at the Center for Restorative Justice in Pasadena, California, and is part of the Level Ground Artist Collective in Los Angeles. Her current research explores religion in the literary world of Octavia E. Butler.
John Williams is the executive director of the Center for Restorative Justice. With nearly 30 years of experience in peacemaking and racial reconciliation, he specializes in coaching, training, and immersive history tours. A former attorney with 23 years of experience in civil litigation and mediation, he also taught race, reconciliation, and justice at the university level.
Monique L. Thomas is the diversity, equity, and inclusion manager at The Huntington, where she works to promote an inclusive organizational culture and strengthen employee engagement. As a writer and performer, Thomas’ creative works focus on celebrating Black cultural identity and the intersection of the personal and political. She serves on the boards of All Saints Church and Young & Healthy.
ABOUT FOUNDERS’ DAY
Founders’ Day is observed annually at The Huntington in honor of Henry E. and Arabella Huntington’s roles in envisioning and establishing the institution. Each year, the program explores topics connected to The Huntington and the rich history of its location in the San Gabriel Valley. Recent featured guests include artist Sandy Rodriguez (2021), writer Charles Yu (2022), and graphic designer Silas Munro and curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas (2023).
