Toni Morrison, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author, Dies at 88

140 August 06, 2019 | by Edduin Carvajal

Toni Morrison, the American novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel “Beloved,” passed away. She was 88 years old.

According to her publisher, Morrison died on August 5 at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. So far, the details of her death have not been reported.

Morrison’s most famous novel is “Beloved,” released in 1987 and taken to the big screen in 1998. The main stars of that film were Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.

Apart from “Beloved,” the author also wrote important books reprising the experience of Black people, including “Sula,” “Song of Solomon,” and “The Bluest Eye,” which was her debut novel.

Due to her outstanding writing ability, Morrison quickly became a well-known author and started getting awards in the late 1970s.

Some of the most recognized accolades she got were: a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction thanks to “Beloved” in 1988, a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

Apart from her novels, Morrison also wrote three children’s book in collaboration with her son Slade: “The Big Box,” “The Book of Mean People,” and “Peeny Butter Fudge.” Slade passed away in 2010 after losing the battle with pancreatic cancer.

The author worked as a teacher and professor emeritus at Princeton University where MacKenzie Bezos, Jeff Bezos’ former wife, was one of her most famous students.

Unfortunately, Morrison is not the only popular author who has died this year. Judith Kerr, the acclaimed illustrator and children’s author best known for “The Tiger Who Came to Tea,” died on May 22 at 95.