In “Parable of the Sower,” Octavia E. Butler writes about a brutal, mid-2020s Southern California ravaged by wildfire, ...

Books can turn up in your life when you need them. What does the resurgent popularity of a dystopian novel say about modern times?

(Courtesy of Chronicle Books) So the focus of the evening was on coming together, as the event made clear in its title, “Sowing Community: Living with Octavia E. Butler’s ‘Parables.’” ...