Reading of Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Starting: July 20th 2024
Ending: October 10th 2027
— in the wake of the present, as proximities persist through(out) dreading tremors,
this is a call to & a call for a transnational collective read(((ing))) of Parable of the Sower by the beloved Octavia Butler,
this is a call to & a call for, Black people: to any of you who would like to read along while following the timeline of the book, which runs parallel to ours, ~
our read(((ing))) will start on Saturday, July 20 2024 which marks 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 read the chapters on the days as they are written, which propose and offer us daily, monthly, and yearly gatherings*,
we will thus complete our read(((ing))) of the book in a little longer than three (3) years from now, the last chapter of the book is written on October 10, 2027
let me know if you would like to join this (virtual) read(((ing))), via Microsoft teams,
by sending an email to senakirfa@hotmail.com (with Parable of the Sower as the subject),
if you want to join but can’t afford to buy/don’t own a physical copy of the book, send me an email too <3,
*we can decide together if we read collectively via Microsoft teams, gather in real life with whom we find to be in our proximity, or read individually wherever we are (knowing that someone else is reading the chapter on the same day too,),
~ may we hold tight onto each other, and to the soil where our flesh will meet (((hopefully))),
or has met,
i can imagine it to be quite a commitment to read every day that appears throughout the book, so no pressure if you won’t be able to join on all those days,
join whenever and wherever you can,
~ may what unravels through the days, months, and years of Octavia Butler’s work and words, remind us, guide us & persist of an us,
may we be transformed by what we read,
as
‘the only lasting truth Is Change’ (Parable of the Sower, p.3)
warmest,
senakirfa