A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler offers a blueprint for a creative life from the perspective of award-winning science-fiction writer and "MacArthur Genius" Octavia E. Butler. It is a collection of ideas about how to look, listen, breathe―how to be in the world. This book is about the creative process, but not on the page; its canvas is much larger. Author Lynell George not only engages the world that shaped Octavia E. Butler, she also explores the very specific processes through which Butler shaped herself―her unique process of self-making. It's about creating a life with what little you have―hand-me-down books, repurposed diaries, journals, stealing time to write in the middle of the night, making a small check stretch―bit by bit by bit. Highly visual and packed with photographs of Butler's ephemera, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky draws the reader into Butler's world, creating a sense of unmatched intimacy with the deeply private writer. There's a great resurgence of interest in Butler's work. Readers have been turning to her writing to make sense of contemporary chaos, to find a plot point that might bring clarity or calm. Her books have become the centerpiece of book-group discussions, while universities and entire cities have chosen her titles to anchor "Big Read," "Freshman Read," and "One Book/One City" programs. The interest has gone beyond the printed page; Ava DuVernay is adapting Butler's novel Dawn for television. A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky brings Octavia's prescient wisdom and careful thinking out of the novel and into the world. A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky will be beloved by both scholars and fans of Butler, as well as aspiring writers and creatives who are looking for a model or a spark of inspiration. It offers a visual album of a creative life―a map that others can follow. Butler once wrote that science fiction was simply "a handful of earth, a handful of sky, and everything in between." This book offers a slice of the in between. "Uncanny and compelling ... George has done aspiring writers an immense service by making the road map and method contained in Butter's papers accessible through this beautiful book."-- Harvard Review "George outlines a life map, a model, a vision of possibilities that is sure to inspire budding writers to, as Butler did, imagine a world that is different and make a place for themselves in it. Also a must-read for Butler fans."-- Library Journal "This is a literary biography, a work of creation and imagination in its own right; George is not afraid to put the reader in its subject's mind, to intuit what her life must have felt like. It is as much a novel as it is scholarship." -- Los Angeles Review of Books "George's book offers a portrait of the writer that is neither biography nor a collection of annotated ephemera....Beyond honoring Butler's creative steps, her attention to form. George has written a love letter to indexing and process." -- Alta Journal "[An] intimate biography, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky [is] a look at Butler though the lens of a myriad of documents that speak to her attempts in creating the writer, the artist, admist the complexities of real life" -- Jezebel "Reproduced in full color, [Butler's] scraps look like the relics of a saint . . . . George's book exists to motivate readers to maximize their potential . . . . [I]t's the kind of book Butler would have cherished, a template for regaining confidence and focus when things look particularly bleak." --Harper's “A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler … is more than just a biography of the famed science-fiction writer who spent years working and living in Pasadena. It provides a glimpse of the creative life, offering ideas about how to look, listen and breathe–how to be in the world.”   -- Brenda Rees ― Pasadena Now Published On: 2020-08-22 “ A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky  is a book about the writer’s life that will be relatable to many others pursuing creative work. Ultimately, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky  became a book not just for Butler’s fans. By focusing on how Butler wrote, how she handled the struggles that came her way and how she stayed focused on her goal while dealing with life, it’s essential reading for any writer.” -- Liz Ohanesian ― Pasadena Star-News Published On: 2020-10-11 “Butler’s taskmaster perfectionism and relentless financial fears are on display throughout “A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky,” which presents an intimate, vivid portrait of the writer’s life detailed with extracts from Butler’s notebooks, journals, letters, bills, calendars, marginalia, shopping and to-do lists and a mountain of library slips.” -- Bliss Bowen ― Pasadena Weekly Published On: 2020-10-29 “George’s book offers a portrait of the writer that is neither biography nor a collection of annotated ephemera. Instead, A Handful of Earth, A H