Ohio Celebrates Toni Morrison with One Year of Literary Events

For an entire year, starting on Toni Morrison’s birthday, the influential Nobel Prize-winning Ohioan will be the focus of literary and historic events in the Buckeye State.

The series kicks off on Feb. 18 — what would have been Morrison’s 95th birthday — and will run through Feb. 18, 2027, according to a news release. More than 40 confirmed events include a virtual Toni Morrison book club, an essay series, film screenings, readings and performances.

Northeast Ohio programming includes, in the month of February, a community celebration and reading at Karamu House; a screening of Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am at East Cleveland Public Library; and a children’s storytime reading of Morrison’s Please, Louise at the Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library.

The yearlong project is led by Literary Cleveland and Ohio Humanities, along with support from the Ohio Center for the Book, Ohioana Library Association, the Toni Morrison Society and other partners.

“Our ambition is for every person in Ohio — young and old — to engage with Toni Morrison’s life, literature, and legacy over the next year. This is our opportunity to celebrate the greatest artist in our state’s history,” says Literary Cleveland Executive Director Matt Weinkam in a news release. “Her writing challenges and inspires us as much today as when it was first published, and we can’t wait to bring it to life this year all across Ohio.”

RELATED: Toni Morrison’s Literary Legacy Lives On in Northeast Ohio

Morrison, who died in 2019 at the age of 88, wrote the groundbreaking novels like Sula, The Bluest Eye, Beloved and Song of Solomon. She was the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The series kicks off in Columbus on Feb. 18 with a conversation between On Morrison author Namwali Serpell and Columbus-based author Hanif Abdurraqib. It's slated to end on Feb. 18, 2027, with a closing celebration in Lorain, Morrison’s hometown.

Check out all of the events at ohiocelebratestonimorrison.org.

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