Born: 18 February 1931 · Died: 5 August 2019 · Age at death: 88
How old was Toni Morrison when she died?
Toni Morrison died aged 88. She was born on 18 February 1931 and died on 5 August 2019.
American novelist of Beloved, Song of Solomon and The Bluest Eye, the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
Did you know?Before finding success with her own novels, she spent many years working as a senior editor for a major publishing house.
Quick facts
Date of birth18 February 1931
Date of death5 August 2019
Age at death88
Cause of deathPneumonia
NationalityAmerican
BirthplaceLorain, United States
Occupationwriter, novelist, librettist
Editor's Take:
Toni Morrison wrote the soul of Black American history. She grew up in a steel town in Ohio and later worked as an editor at Random House. There she championed Black writers. She wrote her first novel, The Bluest Eye, in the early mornings while raising two sons. Beloved, about a formerly enslaved woman haunted by her past, won the Pulitzer Prize. Her prose is lyrical, painful and brave. She became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Key Milestones
1970: The Bluest Eye – first novel
1977: Song of Solomon – novel
1987: Beloved – novel
1993: Nobel Prize in Literature
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.
