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Award-Winning Graphic Novelists to Visit Radford University to celebrate Earthseed 2023: Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower at 30

by Alyssa Archer

Radford, VA (04/06/2023) — Radford University is proud to welcome 2021 Hugo Award winners John Jennings and Damian Duffy to our campus on Tuesday, April 18th at 3:30 pm in The Bonnie Auditorium, to discuss their incredible graphic novel adaptation of Parable of the Sower.

In her classic 1993 dystopian novel, Parable of the Sower, African-American science fiction author Octavia Butler envisioned a United States ravaged by environmental degradation, poverty, and ignorance. Butler's protagonist, Lauren Olamina, only fifteen when Parable of the Sower starts, becomes a leader of "Earthseed," a group who seeks to resettle to another planet.

2023 marks the 30th anniversary of the novel's publication. In 2020, in a United States facing a pandemic, racialized violence, and economic uncertainty, Butler's Parable became a bestseller, and Jennings and Duffy's stellar graphic novel adaptation was published the same year, building off the earlier success that the team had in adapting another of Butler's work, Kindred, into a graphic novel, which now also adapted as a television series.

All Radford students, staff, and faculty have free access to the eBook versions for graphic novels of both "Parable of the Sower" and "Kindred" through Radford University Libraries website. Attendees may purchase physical copies of these and the duo's other works before and after the program, courtesy of the Radford University Bookstore.

We welcome community members to this free event. To support wide attendance, there will be free parking on campus on the day of the event beginning at 3 p.m. Reception and book-signing to follow hosted by the First-Gen Center at Radford University, across from the auditorium: both Ms. Butler was the first in her family to attend college, a first-gen college student, as is the artist of the graphic novel, Professor John Jennings.

This visit is made possible with support from a grant by Virginia Humanities, additional financial support from Radford University stakeholders, and programming support by community partners the Radford Public Library, Calfee Community and Cultural Center, and the Women's Resource Center.

Graphic novels combine text with art, creating engaging works that connect readers to the stories being told. Whether you are a longtime fan of this medium or newly interested, we invite you to explore Parable, a disturbing tale that offers lessons through the resiliency of its teenage protagonist.

If you have not read a graphic novel before, Dr. Michele Ren a faculty member in the English Department at Radford University and one of the grant awardees organizing this event, has advice from teaching graphic novels to her students. "Slow down. When reading a traditional book, you might rush through. Take time to look at the images in order and take in the art alongside the words."

The event will be live streamed, but not recorded. To watch to the program, please use the Zoom link: https://radford.zoom.us/s/96963605454 or call in to listen by dialing +1 408 638 0968 and enter Meeting ID 96963605454.

We hope you will join us!

CONTACT:
Alyssa Archer
aarcher2@radford.edu

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