Nobel laureate Toni Morrison died Monday night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, according to her publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. Morrison received a series of honours during her lifetime, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"Toni Morrison passed away peacefully last night surrounded by family and friends," the family announced. 

"She was an extremely devoted mother, grandmother, and aunt who reveled in being with her family and friends. The consummate writer who treasured the written word, whether her own, her students or others, she read voraciously and was most at home when writing."

No cause of death was mentioned.