Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize-winning author, dies at 88

[Jessiealan]

Toni Morrison, the renowned author best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Beloved" and for being the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, died Monday night, her publicist and family confirmed Tuesday.

Morrison had been at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York at the time of her death, according to her publicist. She was 88.

The cause of death was not immediately clear, but her family said she had "a short illness."

(MORE: Iconic author Toni Morrison dies at 88: Some of her most memorable quotes)

"She was an extremely devoted mother, grandmother, and aunt who reveled in being with her family and friends," the Morrison family said in a statement. "The consummate writer who treasured the written word, whether her own, her students or others, she read voraciously and was most at home when writing. Although her passing represents a tremendous loss, we are grateful she had a long, well lived life."

"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 statement added.

Morrison's decades-long writing career spanned from 1970 to 2019, including treasured novels "The Bluest Eye" and "Song of Solomon." Her work delved into the black experience in America, specifically that of black women in the country.

In "Beloved," readers were introduced to Sethe, a woman haunted by the memories and trauma from her life as a slave, as well as by the ghost of her baby who she murdered to protect from slavery.

"Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another," Sethe says in the novel.

Among her plethora of accolades, she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988 for "Beloved" and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Morrison was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama in 2012.


www.yahoo.com/gma/toni-morrison-revered-author-dies-88-134600086--abc-news-topstories.html