Toni Morrison's Lorain

Description

As soon as the news about Toni Morrison's win of Nobel Prize in Literature in early October 1993, Lorain gained people's attention once again. Local newspapers such as Plain Dealer and Morning Journal (formerly Lorain Journal) highlight the author's hometown that shaped her literary imagination. "Friends, Kin Recall Quiet, Bookish Girl" was published on October 8, 1993, by Karen Henderson in the Plain Dealer. Part of the article is excerpted here.

Morrison’s sister, Lois Brooks of Lorain, said her sister’s books frequently remind her of long-forgotten events.

“She has a wonderful memory,” Brooks said yesterday.

“Times were often tough when we were growing up in the Depression,” Brooks said. Their father, George, worked in the steel mills. He often held down more than one job to provide for his family. “We were a hard-working family,” Brooks said.

Brooks, 63, said their family was very close and she and her sister had always had a good relationship, though they sometimes quarreled as children. “We all slept in one bed, but we were happy to have a room with a bed.” Brooks said she and her sister shared a room and bed, and her two brothers shared a second bedroom.

Brooks said their father and brothers are dead now. Their mother, Ramah, is in the United Methodist nursing home in Elyria. An aide who helps care for her said she had been told of her daughter’s Nobel Prize, but she was not sure if she understood.

“I’m very pleased about her accomplishments,” Brooks said. She said Morrison was elated.