THIS IS NOT A BOOKCLUB - you don’t have to have read anything first

In this chapter we weave extracts from Octavia Butler’s prophetic novel 'Parable of the Sower', and tales of powerful real women, into a literary performance.

SIT BACK, LET US READ TO YOU

Written in 1993 and set in 2024 Los Angeles, the lead character in this dystopian novel is utopian realist, sixteen year old hyper-empath, Lauren Olamina.

“I realise I don’t know very much. None of us knows very much. But we can all learn more. Then we can teach one another. We can stop denying reality or hoping it will go away by magic.”Lauren Olamina, Parable of the Sower

Despite her age and the brutal society she lives amidst, Lauren transcends fear by embodying a ‘by any means necessary’ commitment to survival. This fearless ethos sits at the heart of Earthseed, the belief system she crafts throughout her quest to move beyond survival.

“All that you touch, You Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change." Lauren Olamina, Parable of the Sower

Octavia Butler centred a teenage girl as the voice of change in a dystopian hellscape where climate disaster, corporate greed and violence feature. In this chapter of This is Not a Bookclub, we explore Lauren Olamina’s fictional life, alongside girls and women whose clarity of vision, actually changed the world.

LIVE DRAWING: Artist, Miss Roots will sketch impressions of the performance.

TAKE PART in THIS IS NOT A BOOKCLUB

READ: Raise your voice by reading an extract chosen by us.

SHARE: Submit a piece you’ve written that reflects the theme: powerful girls and women. If selected we will weave your piece into the performance.

DEADLINE: 5pm, Monday 24 November 2025

EMAIL: [email protected].

Entry requirements: no age restrictions — Read more — Read less