Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison Dead at 88

NEW YORK—Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, a pioneer and reigning giant of modern literature whose imaginative power in “Beloved,” ‘'Sula” and other works transformed American letters by dramatizing the pursuit of freedom within the boundaries of race, has died at age 88.

Author Toni Morrison listens to Mexicos Carlos Monsivais during the Julio Cortazar professorship conference at the Guadalajara's University in Guadalajara City, Mexico, on Nov. 25, 2005. Guillermo Arias, File/AP Photo

NEW YORK—Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, a pioneer and reigning giant of modern literature whose imaginative power in “Beloved,” ‘'Sula” and other works transformed American letters by dramatizing the pursuit of freedom within the boundaries of race, has died at age 88.

Publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced that Morrison died on Aug. 5 night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York after a brief illness.