Young Black Writers Discuss How Toni Morrison's Life And Legacy Impacted Their Work
Toni Morrison is one of the few writers whose legacy was celebrated and discussed just as much when she was alive as it certainly will be in the wake of her passing.
The Nobel Prize-winning author didn’t publish her first book until her late 30s, and her writing challenged all audiences to confront the pain, beauty and humor of the Black experience.
While her death will impact millions, there is a generation of young, Black writers who felt particularly moved by the late author’s work. We spoke to several Black authors and playwrights about how Morrison’s work influenced their own craft.
Here’s what they had to say.
Jeremy O. Harris, playwright of 'Slave Play' and 'Daddy'
“Toni Morrison was the first author I read in school who looked like someone in my family, not because she was black but because her face was shaped like my grandmother’s, their eyes stared at you with same intensity, and the crook of their mouth bent into the same smirk when sass was on its way,” Harris wrote.
“Candace Owen-Williams assigned us Beloved in the 10th grade and it changed my life. Honesty, brutality, humor, love, and violence swirled together into this orgiastic stew of historical fantasy that taught me that there was a limitlessness to where my stories could go.
“Then when I discovered her in interviews I saw a model for who I could be and how I could live my life, haughty but never cruel; honest but always with humor, because isn’t life even with its horrors, funny?”
Bassey Ikpi, author of 'I’M TELLING THE TRUTH, BUT I’M LYING'
“Toni Morrison gave me permission to tell the stories I didn't see in the ways I hadn't seen them told. Her bravery gave me strength; her transparency gave me clarity, and her life was a blueprint for resilience.
"As a single mother, whose book will be published far past the age when the term ‘ingenue’ or ‘young writer’ is acceptable, she taught me that my story begins when I choose to write it. Her work and her life exceeded all timelines and expectations-- she simply did what she needed to do when it was time for her to do it.
“That is a lesson I will hold with me for the rest of my life. She gave me freedom from myself and the limitations I placed on myself and my work. Toni Morrison loved us; she loved us so much. We loved her; we loved her so much. We thank her for all that she gave us and my heart will break and mend and break and mend every time I read her words. It will always be too soon.
“What a loss; what a life; what an extraordinary gift she was,” Ikpi said in a statement to BET.
Evette Dionne, author of 'FAT GIRLS DESERVE FAIRYTALES TOO' and 'LIFTING AS WE CLIMB'
“Toni Morrison’s eulogy for James Baldwin is one of the most beautiful pieces of language ever put on paper. And everything she said about him applies to her. She gifted us with language, with courage, and with tenderness. She crowned us,” Dionne wrote.
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akwaeke emezi, author of 'freshwater' and 'pet'
"All my tributes to her already exist or will exist in my work, in these stories churning out into the world, her touch on them," Emezi wrote.
Hanif Abdurraqib, Author of ‘Go Ahead In The Rain: Notes To A Tribe Called Quest’
“I'm very sad. Toni Morrison is the greatest Ohioan who ever lived. No one was more important to my understanding of the fact that I could come from where I came from and write what I wanted to. I'm thankful for all she chose to share with us. I'm so sad about this news.
“Toni Morrison taught me that writing about my people was a task that demanded a vast imagination. Vast enough to match the many selves of the many people I love. What a mighty life.”
Feminista Jones, Author of ‘Reclaiming Our Space’
"’Racism is not a goal, it's a path. It's a route to power, to money. The thing itself is just a manipulation, a tool.’ - Toni Morrison
“Last Morrison book I read was ‘God Help The Child’ and I definitely recommend it, especially for those who have struggled with some of her earlier works.”
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