Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Toni Morrison Passes Away At 88

Toni Morrison (image via Flickr/John Matthew Smith)

From the New York Times:

Toni Morrison, the 1993 Nobel laureate in literature, whose work explored black identity in America and in particular the experience of black women, died on Monday in the Bronx. She was 88.

Her death, at Montefiore Medical Center, was announced by her publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. A spokeswoman said the cause was complications of pneumonia. Ms. Morrison lived in Grand View-on-Hudson, N.Y.

The first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Ms. Morrison was the author of 11 novels as well as children’s books and essay collections. Among them were celebrated works like “Song of Solomon,” which received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977, and “Beloved,” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

Ms. Morrison was one of the rare American authors whose books were both critical and commercial successes. Her novels appeared regularly on The New York Times best-seller list, were featured multiple times on Oprah Winfrey’s television book club and were the subject of myriad critical studies. A longtime faculty member at Princeton, Ms. Morrison lectured widely and was seen often on television.

"If you can only be tall because someone is on their knees, then you have a serious problem."

"If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else."

Toni Morrison, seminal author who stirringly chronicled the Black American experience, dies at 88 https://t.co/O7zNLzJ1R2 pic.twitter.com/xyFmIW8eO6

— TIME (@TIME) August 6, 2019

"If you can only be tall because somebody is on their knees, then you have a serious problem. And my feeling is white people have a very, very serious problem, and they should start thinking about what they can do about it.”

Rest In Power Toni Morrisonpic.twitter.com/KD0mukv4x0

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) August 6, 2019

Toni Morrison was a national treasure, as good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page. Her writing was a beautiful, meaningful challenge to our conscience and our moral imagination. What a gift to breathe the same air as her, if only for a while. pic.twitter.com/JG7Jgu4p9t

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 6, 2019

"If there is a book that you want to read but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it," Toni Morrison said.

We are all so lucky to live in a world where she took her own advice and shared it with others.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 6, 2019

Toni Morrison was simply everything to me. She gave me the language to love myself, to understand this world and taught me to be brave in the face of anything and everything. I’m so devastated that she is gone and so grateful that she was here to teach this little black girl.

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) August 6, 2019