“Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.” Eric Hoffer, 1898-1983

Toni Morrison passed away on Monday at the age of 88. She is the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. She authored multiple novels, children’s books and essay collections. One of her most popular and well-loved books Beloved won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and also the American Book Award.

As Barack Obama, the 44th President of the US, stated in his eulogy on social media:

“Time is no match for Toni Morrison. In her writing, she sometimes toyed with it, warping and creasing it, bending it to her masterful will. In her life’s story, too, she treated time non-traditionally. A child of the Great Migration who’d lifted up new, more diverse voices in American literature as an editor, Toni didn’t publish her first novel until she was 39 years old. From there followed an ascendant career — a Pulitzer, a Nobel, and so much more — and with

it, a fusion of the African American story within the American story. Toni Morrison was a national treasure. Her writing was not just beautiful but meaningful—a challenge to our conscience and a call to greater empathy. She was as good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page. And so even as Michelle and I mourn her loss and send our warmest sympathies to her family and friends, we know that her stories — that our stories — will always be with us, and with those who come after, and on and on, for all time.”           Information from Wikipedia