Her family confirmed \u201cwith profound sadness\u201d that Morrison had died \u201cfollowing a short illness\u201d.<\/p>\n
Author of 11 novels, she won the Nobel Prize for Literature "},"modified":"2019-08-06T23:23:17","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T23:23:17","slug":"nobel-prize-winning-author-toni-morrison-dies-at-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/08\/06\/nobel-prize-winning-author-toni-morrison-dies-at-88\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobel Prize-winning author, Toni Morrison dies at 88"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Nobel Prize-winning US author Toni Morrison has died at the age of 88.<\/p>\n
Her family confirmed \u201cwith profound sadness\u201d that Morrison had died \u201cfollowing a short illness\u201d.<\/p>\n
Author of 11 novels, she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, having published her first novel, The Bluest Eye, in 1970.<\/p>\n
Her 1987 book Beloved told the story of a runaway female slave and was made into a film starring Oprah Winfrey in 1998.<\/p>\n
Morrison once said: \u201cWe die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Morrison family statement said the \u201cextremely devoted mother, grandmother, and aunt\u201d had \u201cpassed away peacefully last night [5 August] surrounded by family and friends\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe consummate writer who treasured the written word, whether her own, her students or others, she read voraciously and was most at home when writing,\u201d it continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough her passing represents a tremendous loss, we are grateful she had a long, well-lived life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family added: \u201cWhile 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will share information in the near future about how we will celebrate Toni\u2019s incredible life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her long-time editor, Robert Gottlieb from Knopf publishers, said: \u201cShe was a great woman and a great writer, and I don\u2019t know which I will miss more.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Sonny Mehta, the chairman of Knopf, said: \u201d I can think of few writers in American letters who wrote with more humanity or with more love for language than Toni.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer narratives and mesmerising prose have made an indelible mark on our culture. Her novels command and demand our attention.<\/p>\n
Toni Morrison\u2019s fiction novels<\/p>\n
The Bluest Eye, 1970
Sula, 1973
Song of Solomon, 1977
Tar Baby, 1981
Beloved, 1987
Jazz, 1992
Paradise, 1997
Love, 2003
A Mercy, 2008
Home, 2012
God Help the Child, 2015<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are canonical works, and more importantly, they are books that remain beloved by readers.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy described her as an author \u201cwho in novels characterised by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality\u201d.<\/p>\n
In 1996 she was honoured with the National Book Foundation\u2019s Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters,<\/p>\n
In 2012, President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n
Morrison was also the first female African-American editor at Random House, where she had the role from 1967 to 1983.<\/p>\n
She championed writers of colour and published the likes of Gayl Jones, Henry Dumas, Muhammad Ali and Angela Davis, among others.<\/p>\n
Morrison also taught at Princeton University.<\/p>\n
Professor Noliwe Rooks, who worked with Morrison at Princeton, told the BBC her debut novel, whose protagonist was a young black girl, had broken new ground when it was released in 1970.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this moment when [The Bluest Eye] comes out \u2013 who\u2019s writing about black girls? Who\u2019s writing about this kind of trauma? Who\u2019s writing about the interior lives of someone like that? Who\u2019s writing about black communities?\u201d Prof Rooks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no one who was doing it the way she was, with the truth-telling and the ugliness, as well as the grandeur and the beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prof Rooks added that Morrison \u201ccould make a story about going car-shopping sound like some kind of Homeric odyssey\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the moment she left her house to the riding in the back of the Bentley was somehow an epic adventure,\u201d she said. \u201cBoth at the level of the mundane as well as the epic, the well-honoured, she was a story-teller through and through.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Obama remembered Morrison on Tuesday as \u201ca national treasure\u201d who was \u201cas good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer writing was a beautiful, meaningful challenge to our conscience and our moral imagination,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a gift to breathe the same air as her, if only for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
King, like many others, signed off with: \u201cMay she rest in power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scotland\u2019s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wrote that her death was \u201csuch a loss\u201d, declaring: \u201cThe world needs voices like Toni Morrison\u2019s today more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her own tribute, TV writer and producer Shonda Rimes said she had grown up \u201cwanting to be only her\u201d.<\/p>\n
Merky Books, which was set up by grime star Stormzy to help black and minority authors, paid their respects by quoting the late author herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s a book you really want to read but it hasn\u2019t been written yet, then you must write it,\u201d the company posted.<\/p>\n
Morrison died at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nobel Prize-winning US author Toni Morrison has died at the age of 88. Her family confirmed \u201cwith profound sadness\u201d that Morrison had died \u201cfollowing a short illness\u201d. Author of 11 novels, she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, having published her first novel, The Bluest Eye, in 1970. Her 1987 book Beloved told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":673465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-673957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle"],"yoast_head":"\n
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