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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Hillel Italie and Chris Pizzello

Octavia Butler imagined LA ravaged by fires. Her Altadena cemetery survived

California Wildfires Mountain View Cemetery - (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Decades ago, the writer Octavia Butler had imagined a Los Angeles ravaged by fires. The Altadena cemetery where the science fiction and Afrofuturism author is buried did catch fire last week but suffered “minimal damage,” according to a statement on the cemetery's web site.

A spokesperson at the Mountain View cemetery confirmed the accuracy of the website's announcement to The Associated Press, but would not comment on the status of individual markers. The grave of Butler, who died in 2006 at 58, is marked by a footstone etched with a quote from “Parable of the Sower,” among her most famous novels: “All that you touch, you change. All that you change, changes you."

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