Toni Morrison, the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and one of America's best-loved writers, has died following a brief illness, her family said in a statement Tuesday. She was 88.
Barack Obama - who awarded Morrison the Presidential Medal of Freedom - led the tributes, describing her as "a national treasure, as good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page."
Ms Morrison wrote 11 novels, many of them touching on life as a black American, in a glittering literary and award-laden career that lasted over six decades.
She also penned numerous essays, poems, and speeches and was often referred to as America's "conscience" for her poignant takes on race and human rights, never afraid of commenting on the day's weightiest political issues.
Tributes have been pouring in from around the world for the author. Former US President Bill Clinton described her as a "world-class human being".
Her family said she "passed away peacefully" in a New York hospital on Monday night "surrounded by family and friends."
"Although her passing represents a tremendous loss, we are grateful she had a long, well-lived life," they said in a statement, describing her as "the consummate writer who treasured the written word."
Toni Morrison receives the Nobel Prize in literature from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in the Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden. Source: AAP
Ms Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award in 1988 for her 1987 novel "Beloved." Set after the American Civil War in the 1860s, the story centered on a slave who escaped Kentucky to the free state of Ohio.
The book was later turned into a film starring Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey.
Ms Morrison received numerous other accolades including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
In 1996, she was honored with the National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Former US President Barack Obama looks to author Toni Morrison before awarding her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Source: AAP
In 2012, Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 2016 she received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction.
"She was a great woman and a great writer, and I don't know which I will miss more," Robert Gottlieb, Ms Morrison's longtime editor said in a statement sent to AFP.
'Canonical'
Sonny Mehta, chairman of Knopf, said he could "think of few writers in American letters who wrote with more humanity or with more love for language than Toni."
"Her narratives and mesmerising prose have made an indelible mark on our culture. Her novels command and demand our attention. They are canonical works, and more importantly, they are books that remain beloved by readers," he said.
US author Toni Morrison receives the Grand Vermeil medal for her contribution to culture in France 2010. Source: AAP
Ms Morrison was born in Ohio on February 18, 1931. "The Bluest Eye," her first novel, was published in 1970 when she was almost 40 years old.
She followed up with "Sula" in 1973, going on to publish another nine novels, including the acclaimed "Song of Solomon" in 1977 which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Her writings touched many, including Obama who recalled reading "Song of Solomon" as a child "and not just trying to figure out how to write, but also how to be and how to think."
Visitors view a portrait of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, painted by the artist Robert McCurdy, at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Source: AAP
Kamala Harris, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, said America had lost one of its "greatest voices and storytellers."
"Her work gave us power, hope and freedom. While our world shines a little less bright today, we know 'something that is loved is never lost,'" she tweeted, referencing a quote of Morrison's.
Ms Morrison also worked as an editor at Random House and taught at Princeton University.
Her life was touched by tragedy. In 2010 her son Slade died of pancreatic cancer aged just 45.
