Octavia Butler: Fledgling
$230
Octavia Butler’s final novel, Fledgling, is a powerful, disturbing book about humanity and Otherness that is also a vampire coming-of-age story. Set in the near-future Pacific Northwest, it pits a dark-skinned, amnesiac predator against ignorance and gangster-like families formed by the predator’s own kind–except that they’re white. Class instructor Nisi Shawl, a friend of Butler’s during her lifetime, adds unique perspective drawing on their personal experience of the author’s joys, struggles, triumphs, and frustrations.
Over the course of four weeks this class will read the book closely as we discuss the myriad ramifications of a novel Butler regarded as “lightweight,” but which fans and scholars see as proof of her work’s continuing importance.
Text: Fledgling
Access Program
We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.
Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you have questions.
Nisi Shawl
Nisi Shawl Nisi Shawl (they/them) is the multiple award-winning author, co-author, and editor of over a dozen books of speculative fiction and related nonfiction, including the standard text on diverse representation, Writing the Other: A Practical Approach. Shawl’s best-known fiction is the 2016 Nebula Award finalist novel Everfair and its 2024 sequel Kinning. Additional recent books include the 2023 Middle Grade historical fantasy novel Speculation, the 2024 Beat-era fantasy The Day and Night Books of Mardou Fox, and the 2025 space opera Making Amends. Editing credits include the New Suns anthology series and Strange Matings: Science Fiction, Feminism, African American Voices, and Octavia E. Butler. They’ve spoken at Duke University, Spelman College and many other institutions. For over two decades they have served on the boards of the Clarion West Writers Workshop and of the Carl Brandon Society, a nonprofit supporting the presence of people of color in fantastic literature.
