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…what the Octavia E. Butler Scholarship [meant] to me… it meant everything.

…I deeply value my Clarion a-ha moments, but realistically speaking, I might have been willing to take out a loan for Clarion.

It was having that trust while I was there, and after. And needing to live up to it.

That gave me both the cluebat that I should stand for things I care about, and the confidence to do so when it scared the shit out of me. …The scholarship, and Butler’s writing, both helped me become someone other than the sit down and shut up outsider.

…the POC at the last few Clarions have knocked my socks off, and the Butler scholarship helps some of us become people who’ll knock your socks off.

“Neile called me up shortly after I filed my financial aid application and told me that… A person had paid my full tuition. Someone who wished to remain anonymous.

… When that anonymous person paid my tuition, I felt like she or he was saying to me: your voice matters. I believe that enough to give you thousands of dollars. Prove me right.

This is why, ever since its inception, I have been a supporter of the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship. Each year, this fund does for two students of color going to Clarion and Clarion West what that donor did for me, which is to say: your voice matters.”

“I remember telling people about how receiving the Butler Scholarship made me feel like my dreams had been given wings. …[Without it], the chances of me attending Clarion West would have been close to zero.

…

To me, being given that scholarship was like receiving word that there were people who believed in me and in the stories that I had to tell. There were people who believed that what I had to say was something worth saying and something worth listening to. This knowledge inspires me even now that I am far away from all the beloved people who inspired me and who continue to inspire me. Each time I sit down to write, I think of the people who support the Butler scholarship and there aren’t enough words to say how thankful I am for you. You may not be aware of it, but in my darkest moments, the knowledge that you believed in me has kept me here.”

“Writers of color [are] disadvantaged on a regular basis, as a regular basis. This happens from inception (writers of color aren’t encouraged as much by teachers, don’t have as many role models who look like us and come from similar backgrounds, don’t have as many opportunities to take after school classes or go to camp, etc.) through education (writers of color aren’t as actively recruited by writing programs, are overlooked or subtly discouraged by teachers and administrators, are often more in need of scholarships and financial support and often have less access to such, etc.) to breaking into the literary world (writers of color aren’t as actively recruited by publishers and editors, may have less access to information about how to break into publishing, may write from a perspective that isn’t recognized or understood by editors, etc.) and then getting their published work recognized (writers of color are often ghettoized into publishing categories that aren’t recognized, writers of color are rarely reviewed at all, much less in the most read and respected publications, writers of color are rarely nominated for prestigious awards, works by writers of color are too rarely assigned in “general” literature classes — as opposed to “ethnic” literature classes, etc.)

… Without programs geared toward encouraging, training, and promoting writers of color, I for one would never have gotten to the point of entering grad school or going to Clarion West, much less completing work and getting it published.”