Toni Morrison

Chloe Anthony Wofford Toni Morrison born Chloe Ardelia Wofford February 18 1931 August 5 2019 was an American novelist and editor She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 Her first novel The Bluest Eye was published in 1970 The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon 1977 brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award In 1988 Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved 1987 Born and raised in Lorain Ohio Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a BA in English Morrison earned a masters degree in American Literature from Cornell University in 1955 In 1957 she returned to Howard University was married and had two children before divorcing in 1964 Morrison became the first Black female editor for fiction at Random House in New York City in the late 1960s She developed her own reputation as an author in the 1970s and 80s Her novel Beloved was made into a film in 1998 Morrisons works are praised for addressing the harsh consequences of racism in the United States and the Black American experience The National Endowment for the Humanities selected Morrison for the Jefferson Lecture the US federal governments highest honor for achievement in the humanities in 1996 She was honored with the National Book Foundations Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters the same year President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 29 2012 She received the PENSaul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction in 2016 Morrison was inducted into the National Womens Hall of Fame in 2020 Description above from the Wikipedia article Toni Morrison licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia