Almost all of the African-American writers that I know were very much uninterested in one particular area of the world, which is white men. That frees up a lot. It frees up the imagination, because you don't have that gaze. And when I say white men, I don't mean just the character, I mean the establishment, the reviewers, the publishers, the people who are in control. So once you erase that from your canvas, you can really play. 
-- Toni Morrison
Born Chloe Anthony Wofford in Ohio, Toni Morrison grew up reading the classics and listening to her father tell wonderful stories. These stories helped ignite a love of writing that led her to Howard University. After earning her B.A. in English, Toni went on to earn a Master of Arts degree in English from Cornell University.
In 1970, Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eyes, was published. Four years later Song of Solomon, her third novel, won National Book Critics Circle Award. Her critically acclaimed Beloved earned her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 1988. Ten years later Beloved was made into a movie starring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover and Thandie
Newton.
Morrison received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Her citation read, "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality."
Oxford University awarded her an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in June 2005. The following year the Louvre Museum in Paris honored Morrison as the second guest curator in its "Grand Invite" for a month-long series of events across the arts on the theme of "The Foreigner's Home." She currently holds a place on the editorial board of The Nation magazine.
In 1970, Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eyes, was published. Four years later Song of Solomon, her third novel, won National Book Critics Circle Award. Her critically acclaimed Beloved earned her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 1988. Ten years later Beloved was made into a movie starring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover and Thandie
Newton.
Morrison received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Her citation read, "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality."
Oxford University awarded her an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in June 2005. The following year the Louvre Museum in Paris honored Morrison as the second guest curator in its "Grand Invite" for a month-long series of events across the arts on the theme of "The Foreigner's Home." She currently holds a place on the editorial board of The Nation magazine.
