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Toni Morrison

トニ・モリスン　/　とに・もりすん

American writer

February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019　・　Lorain, Ohio, United States

Ohio
writer
novelist
librettist

My Take

Toni Morrison sits in a category of her own for me. A Black woman from small-town Lorain, Ohio who became the first to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, she wrote prose that refuses to comfort, from The Bluest Eye to Beloved and Song of Solomon. What I admire most is that she never wrote toward a white gaze; she centered Black interior life as the whole world, not a footnote. Her years as an editor mean she also opened doors for other voices. She died in 2019, but I keep returning to her, because she makes the case that literature can actually carry the weight of history.

Overview

Chloe Anthony Wofford "Toni" Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019) was an American novelist and editor. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English): Toni Morrison
Name (Japanese): トニ・モリスン
Reading: とに・もりすん
Born: February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Aquarius / Goat
Origin: Lorain, Ohio, United States
Blood type: Private
Height: Private
Agency: Private
Occupation: writer / novelist / librettist / university teacher / poet

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Lorain High School
University: Howard University

Awards & achievements

1993 Nobel Prize in Literature
Knight of the Legion of Honour
Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres‎
2009 Norman Mailer Prize
2000 National Humanities Medal
2013 The Nichols-Chancellor's Medal
2013 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award
1977 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

5. Works & records

Category	Title	Role
Notable work	The Bluest Eye	—
Notable work	Sula	—
Notable work	Song of Solomon	—
Notable work	Beloved	—
Notable work	Tar Baby	—
Notable work	Jazz	—

6. Links

Official sitehttps://tonimorrisonsociety.org
Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%88%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A2%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%B3

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