Toni Morrison's Lorain

When news of Toni Morrison’s Nobel Prize in Literature reached Lorain in October 1993, people in Lorain discussed how to honor Toni Morrison. This article reported that the author only wanted people to have a quiet place to read at the Lorain Public Library. "Quiet Tribute for Toni" was published on November 5, 1993, in the Morning Journal. 

By DAVE PRICE
Morning Journal City Editor

LORAIN — Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison doesn’t want a parade. Nor does she want her hometown of Lorain to put her name on a building or erect a statue in her likeness.

Instead, she has a simple request for the people who are trying to find ways to pay tribute to her.

Ms. Morrison, the author of six novels who won the Nobel Prize for literature Oct. 7, said she would like the Lorain Public Library to open a quiet and peaceful reading room with comfortable, upholstered chairs where people can read books. Not just her books, but all kinds of books. Particularly fiction.

“It’s a place for people to just stop in, read a little bit and put the book back on the shelf. The books would always be there,” said Ms. Morrison, in a telephone interview yesterday from her office at Princeton University in New Jersey, where she teaches.

“Libraries are busy places these days. They have a lot of outreach programs and films, story rooms. I’m not criticizing that. It’s good,” said Ms. Morrison. “But sometimes what it doesn’t have is silence and the absence of activity.”