Nobel laureate Toni Morrison dead at 88

The first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature has died following a short illness.

Toni Morrison was 88.

Writer Toni Morrison received the Nobel Prize in literature from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, right, in the Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden on Dec. 10, 1993. [Photo: IC]

She was an American novelist of many renowned works including "Beloved," "Song of Solomon," and "The Bluest Eye."

Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for "Beloved" in 1988. The novel was later adapted into a film of the same name, starring U.S. talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey, as well as Danny Glover and Thandie Newton.

She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, and the committee said that in novels "characterized by visionary force and poetic import," Morrison "gives life to an essential aspect of American reality. "

(Story includes material sourced from CGTN)