The University of Redlands kicks off their year of communal reads and events around author Octavia Butler’s novel, “Parable of the Sower.”
It is a dystopian novel with profound foresight, published in 1993 and takes place in California beginning in July of 2024.
The nonfiction book club at Frugal Frigate is the first event of a series of five this fall. More events will follow in spring of 2025.
The initiative behind the series is University of Redlands English professor Heather King.
“In 2020, like much of the world, I read ‘Parable of the Sower,’” King says. “It’s a piece of literature that’s very geographically aware. It is concerned with environmental studies and religious studies. It has Redlands written all over it. I felt strongly that our university needed to mark it, to honor it, to think about the ways that helps us sets us apart and be accessible to the community.”
She applied in 2022 and got a $60,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities that helped cover costs related to planning and a programming year, the latter of which is about to begin.
“The planning year consisted of basically a study of university faculty and local high school teachers,” King says.
They read and discussed the book and graphic novel and secondary material from various interdisciplinary perspectives, according to King.
And through a mapping workshop, they created an interactive GIS map of the storyline of the novel, following the heroine from Robledo near Los Angeles to Northern California.
The result of the interactive map created with Redlands-based Esri software will be presented at a Redlands Forum event.
A benefit of the upcoming events is that “All entering first year students will get a copy of the novel, courtesy of Dean Justin Rose and Kathryn Tucker from Seiter Chair of Writing,” King says.
The books will be purchased through The Frugal Frigate on State Street, where the very first event takes place.
Five departments work together to provide the university’s first-year students seminars related to the book.
Crafton Hills College has also designated the book as their selection, creating a teaching guide that they share with U of R, who in return shares their mapping with Crafton.
In all 20 people are working together to make the events a success, besides U of R faculty, Crafton Hills College and U.C. Riverside, there are English teachers at RHS, REV and the Grove High School. A.K. Smiley Public Library is part of the event series.
For King, the purpose of the collaboration with the community at large is to “Make some meaning together. Butler’s novel asks incredibly profound questions,” she said, centered around faith, environmental collapse, the cost of hyper-empathy, how communities are formed and what happens when civic structures fall apart.
The first event takes place at the fiction book club at The Frugal Frigate on Thursday, July 18 at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome, no registration necessary.
“Parable of the Sower” Community events by U of R
July 18: Book discussion of Parable of the Sower at the fiction book club at Frugal Frigate bookstore.
Sept. 24: Interactive GIS mapping of Parable of the Sower at Redlands Forum.
Sept. 27: Marathon Read on the university campus. Sign up to read together.
Oct. 15: One City – One Book discussion of Parable of the Sower novel at the A.K. Smiley Library.
Oct. 26: One City – One Book discussion of the graphic novel of Parable of the Sower at A.K. Smiley Library. Illustrated by University of Riverside professor, John Jennings who will hopefully be part of the presentation.
Tentative events also planned include community meditation, lead by University of Redlands professor of religious studies Lillian Larson, based on the Earthseed verses from the novel.
There is a plant walk addressing the extensive native plant knowledge in the novel at the Sustainable University of Redlands Farm by chemistry professor Rebecca Lyons.
Speakers in the spring include Pandora Thomas, founder of the EARTHseed Afro-indigenous permaculture farm in Sebastopol, California.
