First African-American woman Nobel laureate Toni Morrison dies at 88
New York: Toni Morrison, the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and one of America's best loved writers, has died following a brief illness, her family said in a statement Tuesday. She was 88.
"It is with profound sadness we share that, following a short illness, our adored mother and grandmother, Toni Morrison, passed away peacefully last night surrounded by family and friends," they said.
"Although her passing represents a tremendous loss, we are grateful she had a long, well lived life," the statement added, describing her as "the consummate writer who treasured the written word."
Morrison wrote 11 novels, many of them touching on life as a black American, in a glittering literary and award-laden career that lasted over six decades.
She also penned numerous essays, poems and speeches and was often referred to as America's "conscience" for her poignant takes on race and human rights, never afraid of commenting on the day's weightiest political issues.
She won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award in 1988 for her 1987 novel "Beloved." Set after the American Civil War in the 1860s, the story centered on a slave who escaped Kentucky to the free state of Ohio.
The book was later turned into a film starring Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey. Morrison received numerous other accolades including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
In 1996, she was honored with the National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
In 2012, Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 2016 she received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction.
"She was a great woman and a great writer, and I don't know which I will miss more," Robert Gottlieb, Morrison's longtime editor at Knopf publishers, said in a statement sent to AFP.
Sonny Mehta, chairman of Knopf, said he could "think of few writers in American letters who wrote with more humanity or with more love for language than Toni."
"Her narratives and mesmerizing prose have made an indelible mark on our culture. Her novels command and demand our attention. They are canonical works, and more importantly, they are books that remain beloved by readers," he said.
Morrison was born in Ohio on February 18, 1931. "The Bluest Eye," her first novel, was published in 1970 when she was almost 40 years old.
She followed up with "Sula" in 1973, going on to publish another nine novels, including the acclaimed "Song of Solomon" in 1977 which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Her writings touched many, including Obama who recalled reading "Song of Solomon" as a child "and not just trying to figure out how to write, but also how to be and how to think." Morrison's life was also touched by tragedy. In 2010 her son Slade died of pancreatic cancer aged just 45.
She spent time as an editor at Random House and taught at Princeton University. Morrison died at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York on Monday.
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India harbouring big and bold dreams in space sector: Shubhanshu Shukla
Kolkata (PTI): Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to go to the International Space Station, on Wednesday said the country is harbouring “big and bold dreams”, foraying into human spaceflight after a hiatus of 41 years.
Shukla was the first Indian to visit the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He returned to India from the US on August 17, 2025, after the 18-day mission.
The space is a “great place to be”, marked by deep peace and an “amazing view” that becomes more captivating with time, he said, interacting with schoolchildren at an event organised by the Indian Centre for Space Physics here.
“The longer you stay, the more you enjoy it,” Shukla said, adding on a lighter note that he “actually kind of did not want to come back”.
Shukla said the hands-on experience in space was very different from what he had learnt during training.
He said the future of India’s space science was “very bright”, with the country harbouring “very big and bold dreams”.
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Shukla described his ISS flight, undertaken with support from the US, as a crucial “stepping stone” towards realising India’s ‘Vision Gaganyaan’.
“The experience gained is a national asset. It is already being used by internal committees and design teams to ensure ongoing missions are on the right track,” he said.
Shukla said the country’s space ambitions include the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, the Bharatiya Station (India’s own space station), and eventually a human landing on the Moon.
While the Moon mission is targeted for 2040, he said these projects are already in the pipeline, and the field will evolve at a “very rapid pace” over the next 10-20 years.
He told the students that though these targets are challenging, they are “achievable by people like you”, urging them to take ownership of India’s aspirations.
The sector will generate “a lot of employment opportunities” as India expands its human spaceflight capabilities, he noted.
Echoing the iconic words of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, Shukla said that from orbit, “India is still the best in the world”.
Shukla also asserted that the achievement was not his alone, but that of the entire country.
“The youth of India are extremely talented. They must stay focused, remain curious and work hard. It is their responsibility to help build a developed India by 2047,” he said.
Highlighting a shift from Sharma’s era, Shukla said India is now developing a full-fledged astronaut ecosystem.
With Gaganyaan and future missions, children in India will be able to not only dream of becoming astronauts, but also achieving it within the country, he said.
“Space missions help a village kid believe he can go to space someday. When you send one person to space, you lift million hopes. That is why such programmes must continue... The sky is not the limit,” Shukla said.
“Scientists must prepare for systems that will last 20-30 years, while ensuring they can integrate technologies that will emerge a decade from now,” he said.
Shukla added that he looked forward to more space missions, and was keen to undertake a space walk, which will require him to "train for another two years".
