Motivational notes of a sci-fi pioneer

Octavia E. Butler was a powerful and pioneering voice in science fiction. The first black woman acclaimed as a master of the genre, she was known for vivid, expertly crafted tales that upended conventional ideas about race, gender and humanity.

Although her creations were bold, Butler, who grew up poor in Pasadena, was “a private, reflective person who struggled with shyness and selfdoubt,” said Natalie Russell, curator of a new exhibition at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.

How such struggles influenced her life and art is one theme explored in “Octavia E. Butler: Telling My Stories.” Russell said the show uses an invaluable resource — the author’s archive — to examine both her published work and “who she was as told through her personal papers.”

Butler, who died at 58 in 2006, willed the Huntington 354 boxes of materials, a bequest Russell describes as “huge and unedited because Octavia kept everything and passed away unexpectedly after a fall.”

She said the exhibition, which runs through Aug. 7, presents about 100 items, including manuscripts, photographs and notebooks filled with writing and self-motivational notes, including one that reads in part, “My novels go onto the bestseller lists. … So be it! See to it!”

Butler started writing sciencefiction as a child. She spent years working to establish her career — and a new vision of what’s possible in a genre dominated by white men. Along the way, Russell said, she needed reassurance and reinforcement.

Joshua Trujillo Associated Press OCTAVIA E. BUTLER stands beside some of her novels in 2004. She died in 2006, leaving 354 boxes of materials to the Huntington.

From the estate of Octavia E. Butler ON DISPLAY at the Huntington is a page covered with motivations that Butler wrote to herself. Her books included “Patternmaster” and “Kindred.” In 1995 she was named a MacArthur Fellow.