Xenogenesis by Octavia Butler Reading Seminar

A 6-session reading seminar exploring Octavia E. Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy
🗓 Wednesdays
April 8, 15, 29
May 6, 20, 27
⏰ 6:30-8pm

Join seminar guide Heaven-Leigh for a deep reading and discussion of Octavia E. Butler’s groundbreaking Xenogenesis Trilogy.

After humanity devastates Earth through nuclear war, Lilith Iyapo awakens centuries later aboard an alien ship. Rescued by the Oankali, she is given an impossible task: help prepare the few remaining humans for a radically different future. Through themes of survival, consent, identity, and transformation, Butler crafts one of the most powerful and unsettling works in science fiction.

Sensual, disturbing, and intellectually daring, the Xenogenesis trilogy remains a landmark in speculative fiction and a testament to Butler’s enduring legacy as a visionary writer and thinker.

How the Seminar Works

Each book will be divided into two sections. We will meet two weeks on, one week off, for a total of six discussions over eight weeks.

You do not need to read the entire trilogy before the first session. Each meeting will focus only on that week’s assigned reading, so participants can join for any or all discussions.

Reading Schedule

✨ April 8 - Dawn (Part 1 and 2)
✨ April 15 - Dawn (finish the book)
✨ April 29 - Adulthood Rites (Part 1 through Part 2 ch 15)
✨ May 6 - Adulthood Rites (finish the book)
✨ May 20 - Imago (Part 1 through Part 2 ch 6)
✨ May 27 - Imago (finish the book)

Come for one session or follow the entire trilogy with us as we unpack Butler’s ideas, characters, and worldbuilding together.