Despite this, Butler spent most of her life in poverty and was forced to work several jobs in order to survive, waking up to write in the middle of the night. Many of Butler’s novels-including The Parable of the Sower, its sequel The Parable of the Talents, and the neo-slave narrative Kindred-are considered to be among the most important works of 20th century American literature. In 1995, Butler won a MacArthur Fellowship. In 1984, Butler’s short story “Speech Sounds” won the Hugo Short Story Award, and the following year her collection of short stories, Bloodchild, won the Nebula and Hugo Awards as well as other prizes. She later enrolled in writing classes at Cal State LA, UCLA extension school, and the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop. She attended Pasadena City College at night, graduating with an associate of arts degree in History. Butler showed an early interest in science fiction and began writing in childhood. Her family were devout Baptists, and were very poor. Her mother was a maid and her father was a shoeshine man who died when Butler was seven.
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