“We are profoundly sad to report that Toni Morrison has died at the age of eighty-eight,” a statement from Morrison’s publisher, Knopf, said, adding that the novelist died on Monday night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.
“While we would like to thank everyone who knew and loved her, personally or through her work, for their support at this difficult time, we ask for privacy as we mourn this loss to our family. We will share information in the near future about how we will celebrate Toni’s incredible life,” the family added.
Deborah Feingold/Corbis via Getty
Toni Morrison receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2012.Leigh Vogel/WireImage
Toni Morrison.Todd Plitt/Getty
Morrison, born Chloe Ardelia Wofford, was best known for her novelBeloved, which won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The book was also adapted into a film of the same name in 1998, starringOprah Winfrey.
The author wrote critically acclaimed novels includingThe Bluest Eye,Song of Solomon,SulaandJazz.She was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1993, the first black woman to win the prize.
In 2012, PresidentBarack Obamapresented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Morrison also worked as an editor at Random House for over a decade, where she became the first female African-American editor in company history.
“Her work as an editor and publisher at Random House demonstrated a unique commitment to writers of color, and helped in opening industry doors to them,” the statement from Knopf read.
Morrison taught creative writing and literature at schools including Howard University, Yale University, and Princeton University, where she was the Robert F. Goheen Chair in the Humanities.
Her latest novel,God Help the Child, was published in 2015.
“We are born already, and we are going to die,” Morrisontold PEOPLEin 1977. “You really have to do something you respect in between.”
source: people.com
