Nonfiction Night: Positive Obsession

Positive Obsession : The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler is a magnificent cultural biography that charts the life of one of our greatest writers, situating her alongside the key historical and social moments that shaped her work. Join our nonfiction club to discuss this title in August!

Print copies will be available at the Brighton Branch front desk while supplies last.

Nonfiction Night reads nonfiction across a wide variety of subjects. No registration required, you're welcome to drop in. We also welcome readers who decided not to or weren't able to finish the book – as long as you're okay with spoilers.

From the book description:

As the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fiction, Octavia Butler was a trailblazer. With her deft pen, she created stories speculating the devolution of the American empire, using it as an apt metaphor for the best and worst of humanity—our innovation and ingenuity, our naked greed and ambition, our propensity for violence and hierarchy.

In this outstanding work, Susana M. Morris places Butler's story firmly within the cultural, social, and historical context that shaped her: the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power, women's liberation, queer rights, Reaganomics. Morris reveals how these influences profoundly impacted Butler’s personal and intellectual trajectory and shaped the ideas central to her writing.

Morris also explains what drove Butler: She wrote because she felt she must. "Positive obsession is about not being able to stop just because you're afraid and full of doubts. Positive obsession is dangerous. It's about not being able to stop at all."