Toni Morrison
Born	February 18, 1931 (1931-02-18) (age 77) Lorain, Ohio, United States
Occupation	Novelist, editor
Genres	African American literature
Notable work(s)	Beloved, Song of Solomon
Notable award(s)	Nobel Prize in Literature 1993
Influences James Baldwin, William Faulkner, Doris Lessing, Herman Melville
Influenced bell hooks , Octavia Butler
Signature

Toni Morrison (born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18, 1931), is a Nobel Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed black characters; among the best known are her novels The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. In 2001 she was named one of the "30 Most Powerful Women in America" by Ladies' Home Journal. is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Location within the state of Ohio Coordinates: , Country State County Lorain Founded 1807 Government  - Mayor John Romoser (R) Area  - City  24. ... This article is about work. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... The Color Purple by Alice Walker African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. ... Nobel Prize in Literature medal. ... James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – November 30, 1987) was an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet, and essayist, best known for his novel Go Tell It on the Mountain. ... William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American novelist and poet whose works feature his native state of Mississippi. ... Doris Lessing CH OBE (born Doris May Tayler in Kermanshah, Iran,[1] on 22 October 1919[2]) is a British writer, author of works such as the novels The Grass is Singing and The Golden Notebook. ... Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. ... Gloria Jean Watkins (born on September 25, 1952), better known as bell hooks, is an African-American intellectual, feminist, and social activist. ... Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 — February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer, one of very few African-American women in the field. ... Image File history File links TMorrisonsignature. ... deLesseps Story Morrison, Jr. ... is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nobel Prize in Literature medal. ... The epic is a broadly defined genre of narrative poetry, characterized by great length, multiple settings, large numbers of characters, or long span of time involved. ... The Bluest Eye is a 1970 novel by Toni Morrison which details a year in the life of a young black girl in Lorain, Ohio named Pecola. ... Song of Solomon (ISBN 0-452-26011-6) is a novel by Pulitzer-prize and Nobel-prize winner Toni Morrison, published in 1977. ... Beloved is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. ... A cover of Ladies Home Journal from 1906 Ladies Home Journal was first published February 16, 1883 as a womens supplement to the Tribune and Farmer. ...

Early life and career

Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio, the second of four children in a working-class family.^[1] As a child, Morrison read constantly; among her favorite authors were Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy. Morrison's father, George Wofford, a welder by trade, told her numerous folktales of the black community (a method of storytelling that would later work its way into Morrison's writings).^[2] 1870 engraving of Jane Austen, based on a portrait commissioned by her nephew for his 1870 Memoir of Jane Austen Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works include Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. ... Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(Lyof, Lyoff) (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) (Russian: , IPA:  ), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. ...

In 1949 Morrison entered Howard University to study English. While there she began going by the nickname of "Toni," which derives from her middle name, Anthony.^[1][3] Morrison received a B.A. in English from Howard in 1953, then earned a Master of Arts degree, also in English, from Cornell University in 1955, for which she wrote a thesis on suicide in the works of William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf.^[4] After graduation, Morrison became an English instructor at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas (from 1955-57) then returned to Howard to teach English. She became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Howard University is a university located in Washington, D.C., USA. A historically black university, Howard was established in 1867 by congressional order and named for Oliver O. Howard. ... A Master of Arts is a postgraduate academic masters degree awarded by universities in North America and the United Kingdom (excluding the ancient universities of Scotland and Oxbridge. ... Cornell redirects here. ... William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American novelist and poet whose works feature his native state of Mississippi. ... For the American writer, see Virginia Euwer Wolff. ... Texas Southern University is one of the largest historically black universities in the USA. Located in Houston, Texas, the university was established on March 3, 1947 by the Texas Legislature and it was initially named Texas State University for Negroes. ... Houston redirects here. ... Alpha Kappa Alpha (ΆΚΆ) is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African-American college women. ...

In 1958 she married Harold Morrison. They had two children, Harold and Slade, and divorced in 1964. After the divorce she moved to Syracuse, New York, where she worked as a textbook editor. Eighteen months later she went to work as an editor at the New York City headquarters of Random House.^[4] Nickname: Location of Syracuse within the state of New York Coordinates: , City Government  - Mayor Matthew Driscoll (D) Area  - City 66. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... // Random House is a publishing house based in New York City. ...

As an editor, Morrison played an important role in bringing African American literature into the mainstream. She edited books by such black authors as Toni Cade Bambara, Angela Davis and Gayl Jones.^[5] The Color Purple by Alice Walker African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. ... Toni Cade Bambara (March 25, 1939-December 9, 1995) was an American author, social activist, and college professor. ... Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American socialist organizer, professor who was associated with the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). ... // Gayl Jones (Born November 23, 1949)[[1]] Is an African American writer from Lexington, Kentucky. ...

Writing career

Morrison began writing fiction as part of an informal group of poets and writers at Howard University who met to discuss their work. She went to one meeting with a short story about a black girl who longed to have blue eyes. The story later evolved into her first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970), which she wrote while raising two children and teaching at Howard.^[4] In 2000 it was chosen as a selection for Oprah's Book Club.^[6] The Bluest Eye is a 1970 novel by Toni Morrison which details a year in the life of a young black girl in Lorain, Ohio named Pecola. ... Oprahs Book Club is a book club segment of the American talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. ...

In 1973 her novel Sula was nominated for the National Book Award. Her third novel, Song of Solomon (1977), brought her national attention. The book was a main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, the first novel by a black writer to be so chosen since Richard Wright's Native Son in 1940. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Sula is a novel by Toni Morrison about two friends, Nel and Sula, whose relationship examines the confusing mysteries of human emotions. ... The National Book Awards is one of the most preeminent literary prizes in the United States. ... Song of Solomon (ISBN 0-452-26011-6) is a novel by Pulitzer-prize and Nobel-prize winner Toni Morrison, published in 1977. ... For other persons of the same name, see Richard Wright. ... For other uses, see Native Son (disambiguation). ... The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American association of approximately seven hundred book reviewers. ...

In 1988 Morrison's novel Beloved became a critical success. When the novel failed to win the National Book Award as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award, a number of writers protested the omission.^[4][7] Shortly afterward, it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Beloved was adapted into the 1998 film of the same name starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. Morrison later used Margaret Garner's life story again in an opera, "Margaret Garner," with music by Richard Danielpour. In May 2006, The New York Times Book Review named Beloved the best American novel published in the previous twenty five years. Beloved is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. ... The 1998 drama Beloved stars Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey and is based on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning 1987 novel of the same name by Toni Morrison. ... Oprah Winfrey, (born January 29, 1954) is a multiple-Emmy Award winning host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest rated talk show in television history. ... Danny Lebern Glover[1] (born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

In 1993 Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first black woman to win it.^[3] Her citation reads: Toni Morrison, "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality." Shortly afterwards, a fire destroyed her Rockland County, New York home.^[1][8] Nobel Prize in Literature medal. ...

Although her novels typically concentrate on black women, Morrison does not identify her works as feminist.^[9] She has stated that she thinks "it's off-putting to some readers, who may feel that I'm involved in writing some kind of feminist tract. I don't subscribe to patriarchy, and I don't think it should be substituted with matriarchy. I think it's a question of equitable access, and opening doors to all sorts of things."^[9]

In addition to her novels, Morrison has also co-written books for children with her youngest son, Slade Morrison, who works as a painter and musician.

Later life

Morrison taught English at two branches of the State University of New York. In 1984 she was appointed to an Albert Schweitzer chair at the University at Albany, The State University of New York. From 1989 until her retirement in 2006, Morrison held the Robert F. Goheen Chair in the Humanities at Princeton University.^[2] Not to be confused with University of the State of New York. ... Albert Schweitzer, M.D., OM, (January 14, 1875 – September 4, 1965), was an Alsatian theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician. ... University at Albany, SUNY, is a public university located in the capital of New York state, and is the senior campus of the SUNY system. ... Robert Goheen (b. ... Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ...

Though based in the Creative Writing Program, Morrison did not regularly offer writing workshops to students after the late 1990s, a fact that earned her some criticism. Rather, she has conceived and developed the prestigious Princeton Atelier, a program that brings together talented students with critically acclaimed, world-famous artists. Together the students and the artists produce works of art that are presented to the public after a semester of collaboration. In her position at Princeton, Morrison used her insights to encourage not merely new and emerging writers, but artists working to develop new forms of art through interdisciplinary play and cooperation.

At its 1979 commencement ceremonies, Barnard College awarded her its highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction. Oxford University awarded her an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in June 2005. Barnard College, founded in 1889, is one of the four undergraduate divisions of Columbia University. ... The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University), located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... An honorary degree (Latin: honoris causa ad gradum, not to be confused with an honors degree) is an academic degree awarded to an individual as a decoration, rather than as the result of matriculating and studying for several years. ... Doctor of Letters (Latin: Litterarum doctor; D.Litt. ...

In November 2006, Morrison visited the Louvre Museum in Paris as the second in its "Grand Invité" program to guest-curate a month-long series of events across the arts on the theme of "The Foreigner's Home." The main courtyard of the Louvre. ... This article is about the capital of France. ...

She currently holds a place on the editorial board of The Nation magazine. The Nation logo The Nation is a weekly left-liberal periodical devoted to politics and culture. ...

Politics

Morrison caused a stir when she called Bill Clinton "the first Black President;" saying "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas."^[10] This opinion was adopted by Clinton supporters like the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)^[11] or ridiculed by critics. It should be noted that Morrison's statement was intended to draw parallels between the treatment of Clinton by some of his opponents in general, and during his impeachment proceedings in particular, and the experience of those blacks who have been persecuted by public authorities for their skin color, rather than being in reference to Clinton's background ^[12]. However, in the 2008 presidential race, Morrison has endorsed Senator Barack Obama over Senator Hillary Clinton.^[13] William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III[1] on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... “Barack” redirects here. ...

Works

Toni Morrison, on jacket of her Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved.

Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ...

Novels

• The Bluest Eye (1970; ISBN 0-452-28706-5)
• Sula (1974; ISBN 1-4000-3343-8)
• Song of Solomon (1977; ISBN 1-4000-3342-X)
• Tar Baby (1981; ISBN 1-4000-3344-6)
• Beloved (1987; ISBN 1-4000-3341-1)
• Jazz (1992; ISBN 1-4000-7621-8)
• Paradise (1999; ISBN 0-679-43374-0)
• Love (2003; ISBN 0-375-40944-0)
• A Mercy (2008)

The Bluest Eye is a 1970 novel by Toni Morrison which details a year in the life of a young black girl in Lorain, Ohio named Pecola. ... Sula is a novel by Toni Morrison about two friends, Nel and Sula, whose relationship examines the confusing mysteries of human emotions. ... Song of Solomon (ISBN 0-452-26011-6) is a novel by Pulitzer-prize and Nobel-prize winner Toni Morrison, published in 1977. ... Tar Baby is a 1981 novel by African American author Toni Morrison. ... Beloved is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. ... Categories: Literature stubs | Novels ... Book Cover Paradise (1999) was the first novel Toni Morrison wrote after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. ... Love (1993) is the eighth novel by Toni Morrison. ...

Children's literature (with Slade Morrison)

• The Big Box (2002)
• The Book of Mean People (2002)

Short stories

• "Recitatif" (1983)

Recitatif is Toni Morrisons only published short story. ...

Plays

• Dreaming Emmett (performed 1986)

Libretti

• Margaret Garner (first performed May 2005)

Margaret Garner is an American opera loosely based on the life of runaway slave Margaret Garner. ...

Non-fiction

• The Black Book (1974)
• Birth of a Nation'hood (co-editor) (1997)
• Playing in the Dark (1992)
• Remember:The Journey to School Integration (April 2004)

Articles

• "This Amazing, Troubling Book" (An analysis of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

Awards and Nominations

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature 1993

• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1988 "Beloved""

The Nobel Prize in literature is awarded annually to an author from any country who has produced the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency. The work in this case generally refers to an authors work as a whole, not to any individual work, though individual works are sometimes... The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. ... Beloved is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. ...

Nominations

• Grammys 2008 Best Spoken Word Album for Children - "Who's Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? The Lion or the Mouse? Poppy or the Snake?

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (originally called the Gramophone Awards), presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music...

See also

• American Literature
• African American literature

Literature Portal

American literature refers to written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and Colonial America. ... The Color Purple by Alice Walker African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see New Yorker. ... The Cybercast News Service (also CNSNews. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Toni Morrison

• Literary Encyclopedia biography
• Voices from the Gaps biography
• The Nobel Prize in Literature 1993
• 1987 audio interview by Don Swaim of CBS Radio, 31 min 2 s, RealAudio at Wired fpr Books.org
• Toni Morrison biography and video interview excerpts by The National Visionary Leadership Project