Lola Shoneyin on Toni Morrison

I didn’t read a book by Toni Morrison until 1992. Song of Solomon was on the reading list of my African American Literature class; I became an ardent convert from the first paragraph. This 1977 novel became my Bible. I would read out loud to schoolmates and they would roll their eyes at my obsession. No-one was surprised when I chose The African Presence in Toni Morrison’s Fiction as my project title.

Beyond the poetic use of language, her centering of Black lives made me curious about a Blackness that was outside of my reality as an African in Africa. Ms. Morrison’s work felt like I was eavesdropping on an important conversation about extended family. The Bluest Eye , Sula , Jazz , Paradise were all revelations for me, each one addressing different, sometimes difficult questions about Black consciousness and identity.  

I included a small tribute to Toni Morrison in my first published novel. I created a character called Teacher, wholly inspired by Circe in Song of Solomon. It feels like a gift to have been ‘tutored’ by her works. I finally met Ms. Morrison at Festivaletteratura in Mantova, Italy in 2012. It’s not a day I will ever forget.