‘Beloved’ Author Toni Morrison Dies At 88

(Photo Credit: Bruce Gilbert/For The Los Angeles Times)

Remebering The Late Author

Toni Morrison, the Nobel literary icon whose best-selling work explored black identity in America, died on Monday in the Bronx. She was 88. She died at Montefiore Medical Center where her passing was announced by her publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. A spokeswoman said the cause was complications of pneumonia.

Morrison was the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, She is the author of 11 novels as well as children’s books and essay collections. Some of her celebrated works include “Song of Solomon,” which received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977, and “Beloved,” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. Widely acclaimed by book critics, “Beloved” was later made into a 1998 feature film directed by Jonathan Demme and starred Winfrey.

Much of Ms. Morrison’s works went on to become critical and commercial successes, appearing many times on the New York Times best-seller list, being featured multiple times on Oprah Winfrey’s television book club and being the subject of many school studies.

A lot of Ms. Morrison’s works were in prose, with plots featuring dreamlike and nonlinear style. Her narratives often combined the voices of men, women, children and even ghosts to form a harmony.

By: Maytinee Kramer