"Song of Solomon" is a novel published in 1977 by the American author Toni Morrison. The novel was Morrison's third and the first that met with resounding success in author's circles. It won the National Book Critics Award in 1977 and was part of the reason that Morrison later won the Nobel Prize in Literature in … [Read more...] about Song of Solomon
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford on February 18th, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. Morrison's parents moved to Ohio to escape the racism of the deep south, and as a child, they instilled in her a deep sense of her African American heritage and a love of books. At the age of 12, Morrison converted to Catholicism and received the baptismal name of "Anthony" which later became the nickname "Toni."
Morrison attended Howard University and graduated with a B.A. In English in 1953. She then went on to attend Cornell University and received a Master of Arts in 1955. It was while she was in college that she began writing as part of a poets group and after she graduated, while she was teaching at Howard University that she wrote her first novel, "The Bluest Eye," which was later published in 1970. She met her husband, Harold Morrison while teaching at Howard and the two married in 1958 and had two children before divorcing in 1964.
After the divorce, she began working as an editor for a textbook publisher and then went on to work at Random House publisher in New York City and helped to publish many of the classic works of black literature by authors such as Henry Dumas, Toni Cade Bambara, and Angela Davis.
In 1973, Morrison published her second novel, "Sula" which was nominated for a National Book Award in 1975. Two years later, Morrison's first nationally recognized book, "Song of Solomon" was published as well. "Song of Solomon" later won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1987, Morrison published her fourth novel, "Beloved" which later earned her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was adapted into a 1998 film starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. Morrison published perhaps her best-known work, "Jazz" in 1992 and won the Nobel Prize in Literature the next year for her collected works.
In addition to her novels, Morrison has also published plays, non-fiction works, and children's literature. She continues to write today and her most recent novel, 'God Help the Child' was published in 2015. Most of her novels concentrate on the lives and trials of black women in America. Morrison currently lives in Ohio, where she recently established a residency at Oberlin College. She is also currently a member of the board of The Nation magazine.