What if...If only...If this goes on...
-
The Octavia E. Butler Science Fiction Festival is March 23, 2023 from 3-6 pm. El Festival de ciencia ficción Octavia E. Butler es el 23 de marzo de 2023 de 3 a 6 p. m.
Register using the form below. Regístrese utilizando el siguiente formulario.
Event Registration/REGISTRO DE EVENTOS
Exploring the Universe at JPL
-
Hear from JPL navigator Sarah Elizabeth McCandless and learn how to find your way around the universe and avoid getting lost on your way to Mars! McCandless will discuss her specific job, and some missions she has worked on, including Mars 2020.
Offered at the following times: 3:30, 4:00, 4:30
Are Telescopes Time Machines?
-
.
We'll discuss how telescopes allow us to look back through time and what planet earth might look like to alien astronomers throughout the universe.
Abigail Polin and Brenna Mockler are both astrophysicists who work at Carnegie Observatories. They study black holes and stellar explosions in space. They also both love scifi.
Offered at the following times: 3:30, 4:00, 4:30
Earthseed Walk
-
Learn about collective survival, future building, and go bags! With EARTH SEED, PKC enacts radical hospitality as a survival practice, cultivating mutual aid and bolstering collective resistance in this time of ecological and societal transformation. We deepen our relationships, learn from, and collaborate with BIPOC artists, activists, educators, farmers, youth, and elders.
Offered at the following times: 3:30, 4:00, 4:30
Horribly Exciting: When Sci-Fi Meets Scary with Josh Evans, poet/writer/educator/creator
-
In this workshop, we will be writing sci-fi short stories through the lens of the horror genre! Using the guiding tenet "If this goes on..." we will discuss ideas to build on (what happens if smart car AI becomes self aware? what's next if we discover that social media has perfected the ability to program organic beings?), go over techniques and storytelling practices to fall back on in case we get stuck, and there will also be time for writing/sharing! Crank up those minor chords, and get ready to bring the scary in the way Octavia E. Butler loved most.
Offered at the following times: 3:30, 4:00, 4:30
Fungus Among Us: Exploring the Mycoverse
-
Fungal expert Aaron Tupac will be at the festival this year with some specimens to view and even touch! Mx. Tupac will share how fungal systems are all around us and connected to all of our other systems. They will relate this mycoverse to our own human connections, how we support each other, and how we inspire new collaborative ways of storytelling our lives on a damaged planet.
Offered at the following times: 3:30, 4:00, 4:30
Dominique Butler, Space Science Communicator
-
Dominique Butler will present "Life on Mars.” She will discuss the significance of the Octavia Butler Landing site and the most recent Perseverance Rover discoveries.Offered at the following times: 3:30, 4:00, 4:30
Independent Missions/MISIONES INDEPENDIENTES
The missions below will be available throughout the festival and are open-ended. / Las siguientes misiones estarán disponibles durante todo el festival y son abiertas.
















Visit our Community Partners!
Please visit our community partners during the festival and find out what they have to offer!





Thank you to our sponsors!
-
.
.
.
.
.
Email daily.natalie@pusd.us if you're interested in sponsoring our event.