It is being reported that Toni Morrison, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner, has passed away at the age of 88. According to TMZ, her publisher confirmed the news.
Perhaps best known for her best-seller Beloved, which was released in 1987, Morrison was a celebrated writer and she was viewed as one of the great minds in literature. A cause of death has not been revealed but she is said to have been surrounded by loved ones when she passed last night. Jazz and Paradise followed Beloved in what can be considered a loose trilogy, with Beloved being made into a film starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.
Morrison was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom while Barack Obama was in office, further solidifying her great impact on the African-American experience.
In her life, Toni Morrison published eleven novels, nine non-fiction pieces, five children's books, two plays, two short stories, and one libretto. She additionally worked extensively on essays and university papers. She won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993 and she made history by becoming the first black woman to ever win the award.
She is survived by two children. Rest in peace to Toni Morrison, one of the greatest authors of all time.
