Her publisher said that she passed away last night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

Toni Morrison was born on February 8th, 1931 in Ohio.

Morrison was the first black woman to receive the Nobel laureate literature prize in 1993. Her novel Beloved, which followed the story of a mother who killed her daughter to save her from a life of slavery, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.  She was portrayed by Oprah Winfrey in the film in 1998.

Thank you for the decades of wonderful writing, Toni.

If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it. ~Toni Morrison

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