Toni Morrison
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Toni Morrison
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1993
Born: 18 February 1931, Lorain, OH, USA
Died: 5 August 2019, New York, NY, USA
Residence at the time of the award: USA
Prize motivation: “who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality”
Language: English
Prize share: 1/1
Life
Toni Morrison was born into a working-class family in Lorain, Ohio in the United States. She read a lot as a child and her father's stories, taken from the African-American tradition, later became an element in her own writing. Morrison has studied and taught English at several universities, including Howard University in Washington D.C. From 1964 she worked as a publishing house editor, and since her debut as an author in 1970, she has also held positions at several universities, including Princeton. Toni Morrison has two children from her marriage to Harold Morrison.
Work
Toni Morrison's works revolve around African-Americans; both their history and their situation in our own time. Morrison's works often depict difficult circumstances and the dark side of humanity, but still convey integrity and redemption. The way she reveals the stories of individual lives conveys insight into, understanding of, and empathy for her characters. Morrison's unique narrative technique has developed with each new work. Among her works are her debut novel, The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
