Whenever we envision a world without war, without prisons, without injustice, we are engaging in speculative fiction. Radicals and activists devote their lives to envisioning such worlds, and then go about trying to create them. What better vehicle for them to explore their work and its possibilities than through writing original science fiction stories?

Walidah Imarisha and adrienne maree brown brought together 20 radical writers to do just that. The result is “Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements”, an engaging and enlightening collection that uncovers truths buried in the fantastic, and injects a healthy dose of imagination and innovation into our search for truth.

It is the first book to explore the connections between radical science fiction and movements for social change, using visionary prose to weave strands of real-life experience—inequality and exploitation, struggle and solidarity—to generate innovative ways of understanding the world around us, paint visions of new worlds that could be, and teach us new ways of interacting with one another. This is visionary fiction to engage our imaginations and guide our hands in struggle.

Walidah Imarisha is a writer, organizer, educator and performance poet. She is one half of the poetic duo Good Sista/Bad Sista.

She has shared the stage with Angela Davis, Cornel West, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Kenny Muhammad of the Roots, Chuck D, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Umar bin Hassan from The Last Poets, Boots Riley, Saul Williams, Ani DiFranco, John Irving, dead prez and Kochiyama. Her work has appeared in dozens of publications, including the hip hop anthology Total Chaos.

Walidah has facilitated poetry and journalism workshops third grade to twelfth, in schools, community centers, youth detention facilities, and women’s prisons. She directed and co-produced the Katrina documentary Finding Common Ground in New Orleans. She has taught in the Portland State University’s Black Studies Department, Oregon State University’s Women’s Studies Department and Southern New Hampshire University’s English Department.

Sponsored by Lewis & Clark College, Ethnic Studies, Office of Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement, Gender Studies and English.

Free and open to the public
Location: Council Chamber, Templeton Student Center