Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
NEW YORK, May 27, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Former President Bill Clinton praised Toni Morrison's "great big heart" at a tribute in New York to the Nobel Prize-winning writer.
The event marked Morrison's retirement from Princeton University in New Jersey, the Trenton Times reported. More than 300 people -- including actors Morgan Freeman and Phyllis Rashad -- gathered in the Allen Room of Jazz for "Toni Morrison: Her Triumphs, Her Contributions, Our Future."
Morrison won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for "Beloved." Five years later, she became the first African-American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
"I thank you, my friend, for your great big heart and for using that and your mind to help us to see the grace we must all imagine," Clinton said as he concluded his remarks.
Morrison is expected to be given the status of professor emerita by the Princeton board of trustees. The tribute was sponsored by Princeton and its African-American Studies department.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
