So be it. See to it! 50 Years of Octavia E. Butler

Date(s):
February 24, 2026, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Location:
The Historic Academy of Medicine

2026 marks fifty years since Octavia E. Butler published her first novel, Patternmaster. Her visionary work didn't just change science fiction; it challenged readers to reimagine power, identity, and humanity itself.
 
Join the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, the Black Media Studies program, and the Earthseed Project for a day-long celebration of Octavia E. Butler's transformative life and legacy at the Historic Academy of Medicine. 
 
"So be it, see to it! 50 Years of Octavia E. Butler" is a symposium featuring scholarship, creative work, and conversation inspired by one of science fiction's most visionary voices, with a keynote address from Damian Duffy and John Jennings, acclaimed graphic novel adaptors of Kindred, Parable of the Sower, and Parable of the Talents.
 
Sessions also include undergraduate student research presentations, a panel of Butler biographers featuring Gerry Canavan, Kendra Parker, and Susana Morris, an art installation, and more. 
 
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
 
Books will be sold by Charis Books & More, the South's oldest independent feminist bookstore and a venue that hosted Butler. Parking is available behind the Academy of Medicine.
 
For more information about the event, contact Susana Morris at susana@gatech.edu. 
 

Agenda

8:30 – 09 a.m.: Registration (Rotunda)

The Earthseed Project
Register your attendance and receive your program for the day's events.
 
9 – 9:30 a.m.: Breakfast, Morning Welcome, & Opening Remarks (Rotunda)
 
Kinitra Brooks, Susana Morris, John Thornton
Breakfast is served and opening remarks are given in the Rotunda.
 
9:30 – 10:45 a.m.: Undergraduate Research Showcase (Magnolia)
 
LMC 3226 Major Authors: Octavia E. Butler

The undergraduate students from Georgia Tech course LMC 3226 Major Authors: Octavia E. Butler are ready to discuss their research into Butler's canon in the Magnolia Room. This is an interactive session where attendees can move around and learn from the 28 posterboards featuring original research by Georgia Tech students. While the posterboards will be available until 5 p.m., students will be present only between 9:30 and 10:45 a.m.

9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.: Anyanwu Patterns: An Art Installation (Cottonwood)

Olamma Oparah
View artist and filmmaker's Olamma Oparah's installation Anyanwu Patterns all day in the Cottonwood room. Anyanwu Patterns is an installation drawn from Wild Seed, that explores transformation, resilience, and embodied knowledge through visual codes that pull from Igbo cosmology.
 
11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler: A Biographer's Panel (Library)
 
Kinitra Brooks, Gerry Canavan, Kendra R. Parker, Susana Morris

Join three of Butler's biographers--Gerry Canavan, Susana Morris, and Kendra R. Parker--for a lively discussion of Butler's life and legacy in the Library.

12:30 – 1:45 p.m.: Lunch (Crytal Dining Room)

Continue the conversation over lunch with other attendees in the Crystal Dining Room. Lunch is free of cost.

2 – 3:15  p.m.: Peoples' Instinctive Travels: Butler’s influence on Black Speculative Art

John Thornton, Fahamu Pecou, Lovie Oliva, Olamma Oparah

Join filmmakers and visual artists inspired by Butler's work as they showcase and discuss their own creations and how Butler's narratives shape contemporary filmmaking, painting, performance, and mixed-media practices. This roundtable takes place in the Library.

3:30 – 4:45 p.m.: Keynote: "From Page to Panel: Adapting Fiction into Graphic Novels" (Library)

Damian Duffy, John Jennings, Susana Morris

Join the acclaimed adaptors of Kindred, Parable of the Sower, and Parable of the Talents, John Jennings and Damian Duffy, in the Library for an in-depth conversation of their work with Butler's transformative fiction.

Related Link

Contact For More Information

Susana Morris
susana@gatech.edu