Dawn

• Genre: Fiction; science fiction; post-apocalyptic
• Originally Published: 1987
• Reading Level/Interest: college/adult
• Structure/Length: 25 chapters; approximately 286 pages; approximately 9 hours and 21 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: The novel features Lilith Iyapo, a woman who awakens 250 years after a nuclear war has annihilated humanity to find she has been rescued by the Oankali, an alien species. Lilith is chosen to lead the humans who will repopulate Earth, but the central conflict emerges from her struggle with the Oankali’s intervention, the loss of human autonomy, and the complexities of coexistence with another species.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Sexual content; violence; sexual assault; themes of colonization and genetic manipulation; post-apocalyptic setting

Octavia E. Butler, Author

• Bio: Born 1947; died 2006; American science fiction author; recognized for her unique blending of science fiction with elements of African-American spiritualism and history; first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship or “Genius Grant”
• Other Works: Kindred (1979); Parable of the Sower (1993); Parable of the Talents (1998); Wild Seed (1980)
• Awards: Hugo Award for Best Novelette (1985); Nebula Award for Best Novel (1985);  City College of New York’s Langston Hughes Medal (2005)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• Otherness
• The Role of Women and People of Color in a New Human Society
• Freedom