This month, on 5th August 2019 to be exact, the world renowned Toni Morrison (born Chloe Anthony Wofford) died aged 88.
She was an American novelist and professor emeritus at Princeton University amongst other things. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention in the US. In 1988, she won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for Beloved (1987). Beloved was the first of a trilogy of novels about love and African-American history. It was later made into a film in 1998 which was co-produced by Oprah Winfrey.
In the 1960s, Toni became the first black woman senior editor in the fiction department of the publishers Random House and she played a vital role in bringing black literature into the mainstream.
She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. On May 29, 2012, President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Rest in peace, Toni Morrison. We salute you! You will live on through your books.