Toni Morrison death: Barack Obama leads tributes to Nobel Prize-winning author of Beloved

Many figures from the literary world have also paid homage to the novelist

Tributes have been flooding in on Twitter for Toni Morrison, following the news of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s death aged 88.

Morrison, who was best known for her best-selling and influential novels Beloved, The Bluest Eye and Jazz, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

On Tuesday, a friend confirmed to the Associated Press that she had passed away.

Barack Obama posted a photo of himself with Morrison on Twitter, with the words: "Toni Morrison was a national treasure, as good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page. Her writing was a beautiful, meaningful challenge to our conscience and our moral imagination. What a gift to breathe the same air as her, if only for a while."

Chance the Rapper has led the celebrity tributes from the music world to Morrison on Twitter, describing her as an “incredibly powerful and impactful woman”.

Many figures from the literary world, including writer Roxane Gay and bestselling author Celeste Ng, have also remembered Morrison, with the former describing her death as a “devastating loss”.

Political figures have also tweeted, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who wrote that Morrison’s “beautiful writing will continue to be a blessing for generations to come”.

TV producer Shona Rhimes, tennis legend Billie Jean King, and actors Don Cheadle, Gabrielle Union and Wendell Pierce added:

Morrison’s cause of death has yet to be confirmed.