“She knew Paul D was adding something to her life—something she wanted to count on but was scared to... His waiting eyes and awful human power. The mind of him that knew her own. Her story was bearable because it was his as well—to tell, to refine and tell again. The things neither knew about the other—the things neither had word-shapes for—well, it would come in time.”

American novelist and editor

Toni Morrison was an American novelist and editor. She is known for novels that helped define late 20th century American literature, and she received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, appeared in 1970. Song of Solomon, published in 1977, brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. She later won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved in 1988. Other works include Sula and the short story Recitatif.