Listen&Learn: Toni Morrison

Learn about the author of the award-winning novel Beloved.

Pre-listening vocabulary

• literature: written works, especially creative ones
• fiction: a type of literature that tells imagined stories
• traumatic: emotionally harmful
• censor: to remove parts of a book that might be offensive or uncomfortable
• controversial: causing many people to disagree with each other

Listening activity

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17 — 1.2MB)

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Gapfill exercise

Toni Morrison was an American . She was born in 1931 in Lorain, Ohio, originally named Chloe Anthony Wofford. Morrison spent a lot of time around throughout her life. She studied literature in and later worked as a fiction editor at a publishing company. In 1970, Morrison published her first novel, The Bluest Eye. One of her later novels, Beloved, won multiple literary . Her stories often explored the traumatic of Black Americans in an uncensored way. This made her writing very controversial. However, in 1993, Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Morrison died in 2019, at age 88.

Comprehension questions

Discussion/essay questions

1. Toni Morrison’s books are often banned even today. Why do you think people ban books?
2. Why is it so important to talk about censorship?

Transcript

Toni Morrison was an American author. She was born in 1931 in Lorain, Ohio, originally named Chloe Anthony Wofford. Morrison spent a lot of time around books throughout her life. She studied literature in university and later worked as a fiction editor at a publishing company. In 1970, Morrison published her first novel, The Bluest Eye. One of her later novels, Beloved, won multiple literary awards. Her stories often explored the traumatic experiences of Black Americans in an uncensored way. This made her writing very controversial. However, in 1993, Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Morrison died in 2019, at age 88.