On Wednesday 29th April 2026, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a talk & discussion of the novel Parable of the Talents, by Octavia Butler. The event will be held at Redz, 6 Threadneedle St, Stroud – and is free to attend.

Parable of the Talents follows Lauren Olamina, also the lead character in Parable of the Sower – which we read last year. Published in 1998, the world of these books is one of climate breakdown. Parable of the Talents is infamous for presciently featuring a hyper-conservative Christian fundamentalist candidate rising to power under the slogan “Make America Great Again.” While we’d recommend reading Parable of the Sower, you can read Parable of the Talents and join our reading group session without having read the earlier book.

Below in our resources section you can find a link to buy the book at a discount, and free text, audio and visual resources. There is also more information about the books and Stroud Radical Reading Group events.

We will meet at Redz Youth Hub, 6 Threadneedle St, GL5 1AF. Entry is free but please bring some cash if you can afford to donate to cover venue costs.

Anyone interested in the books is welcome – we recommend reading one or other of the books but you don’t need to have read either to join us. You do not need to have attended any of our previous sessions. We do our best to make the sessions welcoming to people who have not been to reading groups or similar settings like university seminars before.

About “Parable of The Talents”

Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel: The powerful and compelling sequel to the dystopian classic Parable of the Sower
Lauren Olamina was only eighteen when her family was killed, and anarchy encroached on her Southern California home. She fled the war zone for the hope of quiet and safety in the north. There she founded Acorn, a peaceful community based on a religion of her creation, called Earthseed, whose central tenet is that God is change. Five years later, Lauren has married a doctor and given birth to a daughter. Acorn is beginning to thrive. But outside the tranquil group’s walls, America is changing for the worse.

Presidential candidate Andrew Steele Jarret wins national fame by preaching a return to the values of the American golden age. To his marauding followers, who are identified by their crosses and black robes, this is a call to arms to end religious tolerance and racial equality—a brutal doctrine they enforce by machine gun. And as this band of violent extremists sets its deadly sights on Earthseed, Acorn is plunged into a harrowing fight for its very survival.

Taking its place alongside Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Butler’s eerily prophetic novel offers a terrifying vision of our potential future, but also one of hope.

About Octavia Butler

Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006) was an American science fiction writer. She won many awards including for her short stories. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. Butler attended community college during the Black Power movement in the 1960s. Butler’s books and short stories drew the favorable attention of critics and the public, and awards soon followed. She also taught writer’s workshops, and spoke about her experiences as an African American, using such themes in science fiction. She is also the author of Parable of the Sower (which we read last year), Kindred, the Patternist series, and the short story Bloodchild (which we read in 2019).

Resources

• Buy “Parable of the Talents” – £9.34 with discount (RRP £10.99, saving £1.65).To get the discount from The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop: Look at your “basket”, and enter the “couponcode” 26stroudradical. Pick up your book from their Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford shops, or get books delivered to your door for £3.50 postage.
• Free pdf of Parable of the Talents (starts on page 8 of the file, ends page 402 – followed by biography and photographs of Octavia Butler)
• 90 minute free audiobook preview of Parable of the Talents – Narrated by Patricia R. Floyd, Sisi Aisha Johnson, Peter Jay Fernandez (embedded below)
• 60 minute interview with Octavia Butler from 2005, in which she discusses the Parable series, climate change and religion – and reads a little from Parable of the Talents (Democracy Now)
• “Octavia Butler Predicted Our Dystopian Present. What Can a Futurist Learn From Her Chilling Accuracy?” (Mother Jones article about the Parable books)

About our events

Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover venue hire costs – please bring some cash if you can afford it (a few pounds would be great).

We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. We do not want the sessions to feel like school – the idea is that everyone has something to contribute, even if primarily through finding the discussion texts difficult and having questions with other attendees can attempt to answer.

To ensure marginalised people feel welcome, we encourage care and thoughtful contributions that respect people’s identities and lives. We are an LGBTQ+ inclusive and anti-racist space.

Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.

About the venue

The venue for this session is Redz Youth Hub, a hub for organising, creativity, and community building. It’s a free space for young people to host their own events, workshops, and meetups. They’ve been hosting sessions by Mutiny: Stroud’s Youth Assembly and The RYSE – the Radical Youth Space for Educations.

Redz is in central Stroud, close to the train station and bus station, with nearby stands to lock bikes, and parking for cars nearby at Fawkes Place or Church St car park. There is step-free access to the ground floor where we will meet. There is a toilet, and some comfortable seating as well as basic folding chairs. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.

There is an opportunity for more informal discussion after the session in the Ale House pub (around the corner) for anyone who wants to continue chatting after 9.30pm.