News Octavia Butler Octavia Butler’s Survivor Is Getting a Reprint—Something the Author Opposed During Her Lifetime Those involved say the decision isn’t entirely profit-driven By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on April 30, 2026 Photo: Wikimedia Commons via Nikolas Coukouma (CC BY-SA 2.5) Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Wikimedia Commons via Nikolas Coukouma (CC BY-SA 2.5) Grand Central Publishing is releasing a reprint of Octavia Butler’s book, Survivor, something the author vehemently opposed while she was alive, even when, according to Butler’s former agent and current agent of her estate Merrilee Heifetz, “she definitely needed income.” Speaking of income, the move partially came about due to the resurgence of Butler’s writing in recent years, as some of her novels, like the Earthseed series, are eerily similar to our current state of affairs. In an LA Times article, those responsible for the reprint offered varied explanations as to why they feel okay with going against the obvious wishes of Butler. Nana K. Twumasi, a vice president at Grand Central Publishing, said she is aware the decision could be seen as profit-driven, but states that she believes it is “far more about wanting to have a piece of this person that we all respect and want to get her due.” Twumasi added, “We do it with the confidence from those people who knew her and worked with her that it’s something that she could have been made to feel confident about doing.” Jules Jackson, managing director of the Octavia E. Butler Estate and Octavia E. Butler Enterprises, said in a press release that Butler “couldn’t foresee the massive rise in the popularity of her work—or the demand for a novel that had been published, but which she later didn’t think was good enough to meet her own high standards.” Heifetz said something similar to the LA Times: “I don’t know that she ever really said to herself, ‘Well, what if? What if my books really are that popular, and people want to read Survivor, and they can’t?’” Heifetz also said that Earthseed’s message that “God is change,” applies to the decision to reissue the work. “I think [Butler] believed that you have to pay attention to what changes in the world and what changes in yourself.” Butler, however, is sadly no longer with us. Perhaps she would have released Survivor if she were alive today and realized the popularity she deserved. Or, given she refused to do so even when strapped for cash, maybe she would have been even more adamant that Survivor not be reissued, since it was a novel she clearly wasn’t proud of. I can’t help but think that it’s just as likely, maybe even more likely, that she would still nix any reissue, unless perhaps she revised it to meet her standards. [end-mark] The post Octavia Butler’s <i>Survivor</i> Is Getting a Reprint—Something the Author Opposed During Her Lifetime appeared first on Reactor.