Happy birthday to Toni Morrison

Happy birthday to acclaimed and accomplished author Toni Morrison, who was born on this day in 1931.

Morrison received the Nobel Prize for Literature for her body of work, including Song of Solomon (a National Book Critics Circle Award winner), Beloved (a Pulitzer Prize winner), The Bluest Eye, and Sula.

To celebrate, we have a few more fun facts about Morrison. Did you know ...

• Morrison's real name was Chloe Ardelia Wofford.

• She was a homecoming queen during her time at Howard University.

• Beloved is the third-most frequently assigned novel by a female author at American colleges, according to WordTips, which also reported that Morrison is the most-read female novelist at Ivy League schools.

• At one point, Morrison was the most frequently challenged author in the US, according to WordsRated's analysis of American Library Association's challenged and banned book data.

• One research assistant for her book Jazz was Princeton student MacKenzie Scott (a successful writer in her own right and also the former wife of Amazon's Jeff Bezos).

And here are posts about Morrison from our newswire's archives. Enjoy this trip down memory lane!

• Author archives: Toni Morrison and Joan Didion 

• The Toni Morrison postage stamp has been unveiled

• A Toni Morrison short story returns to print

• The greatest book of the past 125 years, according to readers

• Check out author Toni Morrison’s Manhattan loft

• Oprah Winfrey, Ta-Nehisi Coates and many others honor late author Toni Morrison

• Authors pay homage to Toni Morrison

• Toni Morrison, award-winning author of Beloved, passes away

• Interview with the director of the Toni Morrison documentary

• The rejection letters that Toni Morrison sent 

• The NYT's essential Toni Morrison