Octavia E. Butler Mural

Octavia E. Butler Mural
Honoring Pasadena’s Sci-fi Genius Octavia E. Butler...
Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy creates mural,
renames library to honor alumna and prolific sci-fi writer.

Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy
1505 North Marengo Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91103

The Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) Board of Education approved the school's proposal to rename their library in recognition of Octavia E. Butler. The school commemorated their famous alumna with the completion of a mural in her honor. Plans are in the works for a formal dedication ceremony.

Octavia E. Butler is one of the first African American women to be recognized in the science fiction genre. She also exemplifies the integration of science with the arts and humanities, and the expression of STEAM-integrated learning.
Dr. Shannon Malone, Principal,
Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy

The Making of...
This mural makes someone with her genius relatable. Middle school students (and really most people) can relate to the idea of feeling insecure or unmotivated when faced a large task, but you don’t have to be perfect to be great. Octavia Butler is proof that you can always get better, learn more, and achieve great things. She set a goal for herself and who she was going to become very early in her writing career, so we included statements from her notebooks in our mural to inspire our kids. You can set your sights on something and work towards it and actually realize it. Dr. Shannon Malone, Principal, Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy

I really love everything Roberto has done at Altadena Arts Magnet. Shannon Mumolo, Coordinator: Signature Programs
Pasadena Unified School District

About Octavia Butler
Pasadena-born science fiction writer Octavia Estelle Butler likely lived the typical writer’s life. She buried herself in books and spent evenings at the library instead of at dances. She was determined to be a writer. As her legend holds, she wrote in her notebooks, “I shall be a bestselling writer…I will find the way to do this. So be it! See to it!” She eventually won more than her share of awards, including prestigious Nebula Awards, the Locus Award, and the Hugo Award, among many others. She was also the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship prize. Born the only child of Octavia Margaret Guy, a housemaid, and Laurice James Butler, a shoeshine man, she grew up in Northwest Pasadena and attended Washington Middle School and John Muir High School, where she nurtured her dreams of being a writer. Eddie Rivera, Weekendr Editor & David Cross, News Desk Editor, Pasadena Now
https://www.pasadenanow.com/pasadenaschools/honoring-pasadenas-sci-fi-genius-octava-e-butler/

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