Concerts in Context: Parable of the Sower

On two nights in November, renowned artist Toshi Reagon debuted her new opera, an adaptation of Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower,” at the Carolina Performing Arts. On Friday November 17th, Dr. Priscilla Layne gave a brief lecture, offering contextualization for Butler’s works, as well as thoughts on her uncompleted trilogy: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Together with Dr. Kia Caldwell, Dr. Layne is the co-founder of the Carolina Seminar on Afrofuturism, Black Optimism and Afropessimism. Furthermore, her second book, “Out of this World,” is an investigation of Afro-German Afrofuturist literature. Thus, Dr. Layne was especially qualified to offer a unique take on Butler’s work that positioned it vis a vis Afrofuturist thought and scifi/dystopian literature more generally.