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Parable of the Sower: Discussion with Damian Duffy

A Discussion of Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation with author Damian Duffy.

Join us for a book discussion of the graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower with special guest author/letterer Damian Duffy.  Damian Duffy and his co-author, artist John Jennings, have co-authored the award-winning graphic novel adaptations of both Kindred and Parable of the Sower.

Parable of the Sower takes place in the early 2020s, when global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos. California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old African American Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others’ emotions.  Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny.

Damian Duffy is a cartoonist, scholar, writer, curator, lecturer, teacher, and a Glyph Comics, Eisner Comics, and Bram Stoker Award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novelist. He holds a MS and PhD in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he teaches courses on computers & culture, and social media & global change.  His many publications range from academic essays (in comics form) on new media & learning, to art books about underrepresentation in comics culture, to editorial comics, to a graphic novel adaptations of Kindred and Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler, with his J2D2 Arts counterpart John Jennings.

This event is part of the Parable Path series of events, coordinated by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.  

There will be discussion groups and arts programming taking place throughout the year, culminating in a performance of The Parable of the Sower Opera at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in February 2022.  Cosponsors of the Parable of the Path series include The Urbana Free Library, the Champaign Public Library (Douglass Branch and Main Branch), University Library at the University of Illinois, University of Illinois Residence Hall Libraries, Champaign Central High School Library, University Laboratory High School Library, and the Urbana High School Library.

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