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Sula by Toni Morrison

50th Anniversary of Sula

Sula and Nel are born in the Bottom—a small town at the top of a hill. Sula is wild, and daring; she does what she wants, while Nel is well-mannered, a mamma’s girl with a questioning heart. Growing up they forge a bond stronger than anything, stronger even than the dark secret they have to bear. Strong enough, it seems, to last a lifetime—until, decades later, as the girls become women, Sula’s anarchy leads to a betrayal that may be beyond forgiveness. 

Masterful, richly textured, bittersweet, and vital, Sula is a modern masterpiece about love and kinship, about living in an America birthed from slavery. Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison gives life to characters who struggle with what society tells them to be, and the love they long for and crave as Black women. Most of all, they ask: When can we let go? What must we hold back? And just how much can be shared in a friendship? 

Listen to an Audio Clip from Sula

Toni Morrison

About Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison is the author of eleven novels and three essay collections. She received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993 the Nobel Prize in Literature. She died in 2019.

Photo © Deborah Feingold via Getty Images.

Honors and Awards

1977: National Book Critics Circle Award for Song of Solomon

1988: American Book Award for Beloved

1988: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Beloved

1993: Nobel Prize in Literature

1993: Commander of the Arts and Letters, Paris

1996: National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters

2000: National Humanities Medal

2010: Officier de la Légion d'Honneur

2011: Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction

2012: Presidential Medal of Freedom

2014: Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award given by the National Book Critics Circle

2020: Designation of "Toni Morrison Day" in Ohio, to be celebrated annually on her birthday, February 18

2021: The Toni Morrison Achievement Award was established with the National Book Critics Circle

A Celebration of the Life of Toni Morrison

Contact

Permissions (CAA): amanda.urbanasst@caa.com

Permissions for use of the papers: boatman@princeton.edu

Publicity: Todd Doughty, tdoughty@penguinrandomhouse.com

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