The trailblazing author Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, died Monday night at the age of 88, her publisher, Knopf, confirmed Tuesday. (HuffPost)
The cause of death was not disclosed, but her family said her passing followed a brief illness. (Deadline)
Beginning with her 1970 debut novel The Bluest Eye, Morrison quickly established herself as a strong, distinctive voice of her generation. Morrison’s second novel, Sula, released in 1973, was nominated for a National Book Award. Her third, 1977’s Song Of Solomon, won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named a main selection of the Book of the Month Club. (THR)
In 1993, Morrison became the first black woman to receive the Nobel literature prize. Other awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction. (Variety)