Toni Morrison’s next novel, “Sula,” was published in nineteen seventy-three. It received great critical praise and was nominated for the National Book Award. Her third novel, “Song of Solomon,” won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Many critics think “Beloved” is Toni Morrison’s best work. It was published in nineteen eighty-seven and won a Pulitzer Prize. “Beloved” tells the story of a slave haunted by the horror of killing her own baby girl to save her from the suffering of slavery.

Toni Morrison says she does not have a favorite among her own books. She says whatever book she is currently working on is the one that interests her most. However, in two thousand eight, she told television host Charlie Rose that there was a book she considered her best. She said she met the goals she set for herself in the novel “Jazz” and that it had the finest writing and ideas.

Toni Morrison is on the editorial board of The Nation magazine. The writer retired from Princeton University in two thousand six.

Marnie Stern

DOUG JOHNSON: Marnie Stern makes music that is energetic, experimental and creative. She is best known for her inventive method of playing the electric guitar. She uses both hands to finger-tap on the flat narrow part of the guitar called the fretboard. Her music is influenced by heavy metal and punk music, styles of music in which female guitarists are rare. Shirley Griffith tells us more.