ABOUT THE COMMUNITY READ
Join Portland Ovations and the Portland Public Library as we embark on a four-part exploration of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable series. Each month, we will dive into these landmark works of Afrofuturism, led by expert facilitators. Our March reading is led by author Samara Cole Doyon.
January 5, 2023, 6-7pm: Book discussion of Parable of the Sower
February 2, 2023, 6-7pm: Book discussion of Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation (adapted by Damien Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings)
March 2, 2023, 6-7pm: Book discussion of Parable of the Talents
April 6, 2023, 6-7pm: Writing Workshop
Each session will be held at the Portland Public Library Downtown Library on Monument Square.
REGISTRATION
Free registration highly encouraged. Use this link to register for 1, 2, 3 or all 4 Community Read sessions.
ACCESSIBILITY
Read about accessibility at Portland Public Library.
Read about BibioCommons accessibility.
ASL interpretation is available by request. Contact offstage@portlandovations.org.
MARCH READING
This month, we will discuss of Parable of the Talents, by Octavia E. Butler.
In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction of her home and family, and realized her vision of a peaceful community in northern California based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed. The fledgling community provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president who vows to “make America great again.” In an increasingly divided and dangerous nation, Lauren’s subversive colony–a minority religious faction led by a young black woman–becomes a target for President Jarret’s reign of terror and oppression.Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew, Lauren Olamina. As she searches for answers about her own past, she also struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future.
ABOUT SAMARA COLE DOYON
Samara Cole Doyon is a mixed race Black writer living in the state of Maine–a region of unceded Wabanaki / Abenaki territory. She is a poet and educator, holding a BA in English, with graduate-level teacher training from the University of Southern Maine. She is also a children’s book author, winning both a Lupine Award and an International Literacy Association Award for her debut picture book, Magnificent Homespun Brown (Tilbury House Publishers, January, 2020). Her second children’s book, Magic Like That (Lee & Low Books, September, 2021), earned a starred review from Kirkus and made the Bookstagang Best Picture Books of 2021 list. Samara works at Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance and resides with her husband, two children, and rescue pup in Lewiston.
BOOKS
Check your local library for copies of Parable of the Talents. Many libraries have physical copies to check out along with digital copies to download on your eReader.
The Portland Public Library offers digital access with both the ebook and audio book available through the Cloud Library App. All you need is an active library membership to access.
Back Cove Books has copies of all 3 titles at their store on Forest Avenue in Portland.
See Octavia E. Butler's "Parable of the Sower" on stage
On April 14, 2023, Indigo Arts Alliance and Portland Ovations, in association with Bowdoin College present Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower, created by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon, at Merrill Auditorium. Participants in all four parts of the Community Read series will receive a complimentary ticket to this performance.
All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you. Based on the landmark sci-fi novels by Afrofuturist author Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower is a genre-defying, modern congregational opera that celebrates two centuries of Black music. Written by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon, Parable chronicles the spiritual awakening of Lauren Olamina amidst an America plagued by the products of unrelenting greed, systemic injustice and climate change denial. With an ensemble of more than 20 musicians, Parable transforms the operatic form, fusing African-American spiritualism, deep insights into gender and race, and climate activism into a new musical experience that thrills and inspires.
