
Octavia's Parables
Hosts Toshi Reagon and adrienne maree brown read the works of Octavia Butler one chapter at a time, bringing a modern analysis and scholarship to the work, and offering listeners guiding questions for applying the lessons in their own lives and community work. Produced by Kat Aaron.
Latest episodes

Jul 1, 2021 • 52min
Parable of the Talents: Chapter 19
Toshi Reagon and adrienne maree brown discuss and analyze Chapter 19 of Octavia E. Butler's book, Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
We lost our detailed episode descriptions when episodes were taken down, more soon! We're glad to be back.
Follow us on twitter @oparables, and support us on Patreon at Octavia's Parables.

Jun 28, 2021 • 52min
Parable of the Talents: Chapter 17
Once again, we travel with Lauren and with Larkin. Larkin searches to understand her mother. Lauren searches for Larkin, alone despite herself. The children of Acorn are still missing, almost all of them. Lauren braves a Christian America shelter, navigating her terror and trauma. And she sees a familiar, unwelcome, hypocritical face.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 17 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider. Big, deep questions this week.
Follow us on twitter @oparables, and support us on Patreon at Octavia's Parables. Visit our website at readingoctavia.com for transcripts and more.

Jun 14, 2021 • 1min
Back Next Week
Hello beloved listeners! The Parables team needed this week to rest and heal. Back next week with Chapter 16 of our journey through Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Talents.

Jun 2, 2021 • 51min
Parable of the Talents: Chapter 16
Toshi Reagon and adrienne maree brown discuss and analyze Chapter 16 of Octavia E. Butler's book, Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
We lost our detailed episode descriptions when episodes were taken down, more soon! We're glad to be back.
Follow us on twitter @oparables, and support us on Patreon at Octavia's Parables.

Jun 1, 2021 • 53min
Parable of the Talents: Chapter 15
Toshi Reagon and adrienne maree brown discuss and analyze Chapter 15 of Octavia E. Butler's book, Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
We lost our detailed episode descriptions when episodes were taken down, more soon! We're glad to be back.
Follow us on twitter @oparables, and support us on Patreon at Octavia's Parables.

May 31, 2021 • 1h
Parable of the Talents: Ch 14
A dense, bruising, painful chapter.
A year has passed. A year of enslavement at Camp Christian. With an escape attempt, and its consequences. And a brutal, wasteful, pointless war.
We learn more of Larkin’s childhood life in her adoptive family, with its cruelties and violations.
Sickness strikes Camp Christian. A betrayal. A storm. And liberation.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 14 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Follow us on twitter @oparables, and support us on Patreon at Octavia's Parables. Visit our website at readingoctavia.com for transcripts and more.
Links:
More on the death row prisoner who traveled in his imagination, who adrienne references, here: https://blog.pshares.org/just-mercy-visiting-a-local-prison-with-former-death-row-inmate-anthony-ray-hinton/

May 24, 2021 • 1h 6min
Parable of the Talents: Ch 13
Trigger warnings: sexual violence, rape.
We learn what happened to Larkin, and where the children went. We learn how the women of Acorn survive, day by day, and how they maneuver. New alliances are cautiously forming, at great risk. And the sexual violence is a constant presence. We grapple with the pleasure of power, and its consequences.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 13 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Follow us on twitter @oparables, and support us on Patreon at Octavia's Parables. Visit our newish (!) website at readingoctavia.com for transcripts and more.

May 7, 2021 • 56min
Parable of the Talents: Chapter 12
Toshi Reagon and adrienne maree brown discuss and analyze Chapter 12 of Octavia E. Butler's book, Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
We lost our detailed episode descriptions when episodes were taken down, more soon! We're glad to be back.
Follow us on twitter @oparables, and support us on Patreon at Octavia's Parables.

May 6, 2021 • 54min
Parable of the Talents: Chapter 11
Toshi Reagon and adrienne maree brown discuss and analyze Chapter 11 of Octavia E. Butler's book, Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
We lost our detailed episode descriptions when episodes were taken down, more soon! We're glad to be back.
Follow us on twitter @oparables, and support us on Patreon at Octavia's Parables.

May 3, 2021 • 51min
Parable of the Talents: Chapter 10
Our narrator is born, and named, and welcomed. Lauren and Bankole discuss a move, again. Assessing danger, seen and unseen. Bankole tries to understand, again, how he and Lauren can shape the unknown. She shows him more of her self, this far in.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 10 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and offer questions for you and your people to consider. Not easy chapters, not easy questions.
Follow us on twitter @oparables, and support us on Patreon at Octavia's Parables. Visit our new (!) website at readingoctavia.com for transcripts and more.
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Links:
Breathe, the second Marine Mammal Meditation, by Toshi and Alexis Pauline Gumbs, is here on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/longwatersong