Octavia E. Butler Celebration of the Fantastic Arts Events

March 21
Black Science Fiction Short Film Festival
12:30 – 2:30 p.m. (Cosby Auditorium)
This event features exciting images of Black science fiction, fantasy and horror in short films from around the world.

Featured shorts currently announced:

"THE CHILDREN OF NAN" – Science fiction. Series excerpts. Written and montage by Alisha B. Wormsley.

"PUMZI" – Kenya. Science fiction/futuristic. Written and directed by Wanuri Kahiu.

"WAKE" – Horror. Written and directed by Bree Newsome.

"M.O.M.M." – Science fiction. Adapted from Octavia E. Butler’s Mind of My Mind. Written and directed by M. Asli Dukan.

"The Abandon" – Science fiction/horror. Web series pilot. Written and directed by Keith Josef Adkins.

RITE OF PASSAGE: INITIATION – Alternate history. Directed by Balogun Ojetade. Written by Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade. 

3 p.m. (Spelman College Museum of Fine Art) – “Planet Rock: Techno, House Music & Afrofuturism,” featuring dj lynée denise (WildSeed Music)
 
4 p.m.  (Cosby lobby) – Art exhibition featuring artist Candace Hunter; artist John Jennings, and samples from the ONYXCON archive from founder Joseph Wheeler III selected to reflect the impact of women characters in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and related genres:  artists Afua Richardson, Eric Wilkerson and others. 

5 p.m. (Cosby Auditorium — live streamed)
MAIN PANEL DISCUSSION
Student staged reading, Spelman College President Beverly Daniel Tatum, Department of English Chair Dr. Tarshia Stanley, poem by Opal Moore, panel discussion.

Panelists:

Steven Barnes (author, screenwriter): NAACP Image Award winner, Endeavor Award winner, Cable ACE Award nominee. Works include: Lion’s Blood, Zulu Heart, Shadow Valley, Great Sky Woman. Television credits: “The Outer Limits,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Andromeda.”

Samuel R. Delany (author, literary critic): Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Nebula Award winner, Hugo Award winner.  Dhalgren. Babel-17. Dark Reflections. Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders.

Tananarive Due (author, screenwriter): American Book Award winner, NAACP Image Award winner.  My Soul to Keep (African Immortals series), The Good House, Joplin’s Ghost, Freedom in the Family: a Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights.

Jewelle Gomez (author, poet, playwright):  Lambda Award winner. The Gilda Stories (novel), Bones & Ash: a Gilda Story (stage adaptation performed by the Urban Bush Women), Waiting for Giovanni (play).

Nalo Hopkinson (author, editor): John W. Campbell Award, Locus Award, World Fantasy Award, Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic.  Brown Girl in the Ring. Midnight Robber. The Salt Roads. Skin Folk.

Brandon Massey (author, editor): Golden Pen Award. Covenant. Don't Ever Tell. Cornered. The Other Brother.  Dark Dreams (anthology series editor). The Ancestors (editor).

Nisi Shawl (author, editor): James Tiptree, Jr. Award. Filter House. Bloodchildren: Stories by the Octavia E. Butler Scholars (editor). Strange Matings: Octavia E. Butler, Science Fiction, Feminism, and African American Voices (forthcoming, co-edited with Dr. Rebecca J. Holden). Writing the Other: A Practical Approach (co-authored with Cynthia Ward). Cofounder of the Carl Brandon Society.

Sheree Renée Thomas (author, poet, editor):  World Fantasy Award. New York Foundation of the Arts Fellow, Cave Canem Fellow. Shotgun Lullabies: Stories & Poems. Dark Matter (anthology series editor), named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.  

Helpful links on Octavia E. Butler:
 
Octavia E. Butler website:
http://www.octaviabutler.org
 
Octavia Estelle Butler: Voices from the Gaps (University of Minnesota):
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/butlerOctavia.php

Octavia E. Butler Events:
https://www.facebook.com/OctaviaEButlerCelebrationMarch21