In memory and celebration of the life of Toni Morrison, we’d like to highlight her words and works.

Resource list compiled by Sarah Brandt

Archives

• Toni Morrison Papers (mostly 1970-2015) 1908-2017 – Princeton University. Library. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
  • “Toni Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford, 1931) is a Nobel prize-winning American author, editor, and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. The material described in this finding aid consists of manuscripts, drafts, galleys, and proofs of Morrison’s novels and other writings; personal correspondence; editorial files relating to Morrison’s work at Random House and later publication of two posthumous works by Toni Cade Bambara; academic and teaching files, particularly pertaining to SUNY Albany and Princeton University; working files; press clippings; published books, photographs, audiovisual materials, and awards and memorabilia.”

Words

• Nobel Lecture by Toni Morrison (7 December 1993) – audio version
  • Lecture and speech of acceptance, upon the award of the Nobel prize for literature, delivered in Stockholm on the seventh of December, nineteen hundred and ninety-three – print version – print version
• Toni Morrison: College Commencement Address (2004 Speech to Students) from The Film Archives
• Toni Morrison interview on “Jazz” (1993) – YouTube

Works

• The bluest eye by Toni Morrison (1970)
• Sula by Toni Morrison (1973)
• Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (1977)
• Tar baby by Toni Morrison (1981)
• Beloved: A novel by Toni Morrison (1987)
  • Beloved (DVD) directed by Jonathan Demme
• Jazz by Toni Morrison (1992)
• Playing in the dark: Whiteness and the literary imagination by Toni Morrison (1992)
• Paradise by Toni Morrison (1997)
• The big box by Toni Morrison & Slade Morrison (1999)
• Love by Toni Morrison (2003)
• The ant or the grasshopper? by Toni Morrison& Slade Morrison (2003)
• A mercy by Toni Morrison (2008)
• Desdemona by Toni Morrison (2012)
• Home by Toni Morrison (2012)
• The source of self-regard: Selected essays, speeches, and meditations by Toni Morrison (2019)

Browse the UT Libraries’ catalog for more by Toni Morrison

News

• Toni Morrison’s Black Magic by Jean Strouse in Newsweek (1981)
• Toni Morrison, Towering Novelist of the Black Experience, Dies at 88 by Margalit Fox in The New York Times (2019)
• Toni Morrison Nobel Laureate Who Transfigured American Literature Dies at 88 by Emily Langer in The Washington Post (2019)

Visit the physical display on the New Books shelf by the entryway of PCL.