Celebration of the Life of Toni Morrison

1988 Fiction winner and 1993 Nobel Literature Prize recipient Toni Morrison died in New York on August 5. A graduate of Howard and Cornell Universities, Morrison became the first female African-American fiction editor at Random House. During her 20-year tenure at the firm, she transitioned to a literary and academic career that included such highlights as "Sula" (1973; an early lodestar of black feminism); the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning "Song of Solomon" (1977); and the Pulitzer-winning "Beloved" (1987), which was hailed by the jury as "a work of assured, immense distinction, destined to become an American classic." A longtime resident of suburban Grand View-on-Hudson, Morrison was Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities, Emerita at Princeton University at the time of her death.

On November 21, Morningside Heights' Cathedral of Saint John the Divine will host a public memorial service for Morrison. Scheduled speakers include Oprah Winfrey (who starred in and co-produced Jonathan Demme's 1998 film adaptation of "Beloved"); 1994 General Nonfiction winner and Pulitzer Prize Board member David Remnick; 2016 General Nonfiction finalist Ta-Nehisi Coates; poet Kevin Young of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and The New Yorker; philosopher and political activist Angela Davis; public speaker and essayist Fran Leibowitz; and writers Jesmyn Ward, Edwidge Danticat and Michael Ondaatje.

Doors will open at 3 pm. Please note that seating may be limited.