Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower Headed to the Big Screen

Octavia Butler's science fiction novel, Parable of the Sower, headed for the big screen...

From Variety

Melina Matsoukas has found her next directorial project in Octavia E. Butler’s landmark sci-fi odyssey “Parable of the Sower.”

Matsoukas, whose resume includes “Queen & Slim,” “Insecure” and several key collaborations with Beyoncé, will direct and produce the film adaptation of Butler’s 1993 dystopian novel. Hailed as “notable book of the year” by the New York Times upon its original publication, “Parable of the Sower” became a New York Times bestseller in 2020, 27 years later, due to its prescience and enduring notoriety.

The novel is set in early 2020s California as global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos. The central hero is Lauren Olamina, a young woman who suffers from hyperempathy — a debilitating sensitivity to others’ emotions; the story follows as the surrounding anarchy creeps into her family’s small community, and she must navigate the fallout.