senakirfa A.
(this text will be about a 5 minute read)
this is a call to Black people across the continents and the African Diaspora, to virtually gather, read, and collectively engage with Octavia E. Butler’s thought-provoking body of work Parable of the Sower.
in the wake of the present where we are imperiled by the h/daunting manifestations of colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, fascism, and its extended branches of evil that harm Black life significantly—and simultaneously imperils our future—we are urged to gather and organize ourselves, to hold onto the lives we wish to live and share, beyond this doom.
in Parable of the Sower, the future—which is situated in our present—is envisioned by Butler through her literary world-making approach, as a HistoFuturist. This incites Butler’s rigorous scrutinization of the past, present, and the future, leading her to propel and unfold the cracks of the world as we know it, and simultaneously center the inevitability of a future through those cracks, nevertheless.
by following the timeline of the book, which runs parallel to our current, i want to initiate gathering and reading the chapters of Parable of the Sower on the days they are written, which offers us an intermittent series of daily, monthly, and yearly Reading~Gatherings. during these gatherings we collectively reflect on what is written through collecting and reading texts and articles, dialogues, (collective) journaling on writing prompts, and whatever feels fitting.
this Reading~Gathering series of and around Parable of the Sower began on Saturday, July 20, 2024, marking the start of Earthseed: The Book of the Living—told, witnessed, lived, and written by Parable of the Sower’s narrator and protagonist Lauren Oya Olamina.
we will complete our reading of the Parable of the Sower on Sunday, October 10, 2027.
please let me know if you would like to join, by sending an email to: senakirfa@hotmail.com, ~ please email too, if you would like to read along, but don’t own or have a physical copy of the Parable of the Sower in your proximity :)
may what unravels through the days, months, and years of Octavia Butler’s work and words, remind us & persist of an us, may we be transformed by what we read,
‘the only lasting truth Is Change’ (Parable of the Sower, p.3)
warmest,
senakirfa A.