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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

The essential companion to Toni Morrison’s work, written by Namwali Serpell, ‘one of the most innovative and intelligent writers today’ (Financial Times)

Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate and most beloved of writers, has inspired generations of readers. But her artistic genius is often overshadowed by her monumental public persona, perhaps because, as Namwali Serpell puts it, ‘she is our only truly canonical black, female writer – and her work is highly complex.’ In On Morrison, Serpell brings her unique experience as both an award-winning writer and professor to illuminate Toni Morrison’s masterful experiments with literary form.

This is Morrison as you’ve never encountered her before, a journey through her vivid fiction and criticism, as well as her lesser-known dramatic works and poetry – with contextual guidance and original close readings. Accessible and thrillingly rigorous, On Morrison is a primer not only on how to read one of the most significant American contemporary authors of our time, but how to approach any great work of literature. The conversation between the two black women artist-readers that rises from these pages is stylish, edifying and spectacular in its scope and erudition.

'Breathtaking, provocative and refreshing' IMANI PERRY
'Serpell is a superlative essayist' DIANA EVANS
'A literary miracle' KIESE LAYMON
'Stunning reconsiderations of Morrison… incisive, tender, and also honest and unsparing’ HANIF ABDURRAQIB, author of A Little Devil in America

© Namwali Serpell 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

Serpell is a superlative essayist, and On Morrison a high-flying, fantastically erudite rendition of how Morrison wanted to be read, blending the scholarly and the personal response to her work with seamless flair and conviction
DIANA EVANS, author of Ordinary People
In On Morrison, Serpell applies her prodigious intellect, vast literary archive, and her own calling as a novelist to magnificent effect in this breathtaking, provocative, and refreshing engagement with Morrison as a thinker as well as an artist
IMANI PERRY, author of South to America
Serpell brings her expertise and eye to Toni Morrison’s singular literary genius. Maybe you’ve memorised The Bluest Eye, Sula or Morrison’s essays by heart, or you’ve decided to revisit an author you were first introduced to in school. Either way, this work will deepen your understanding of and appreciation for one of the greatest writers and editors of the 20th century
Harper's Bazaar
A thrilling, candid and immersive study... A necessary book, and a brilliant achievement
PRETI TANEJA, author of We That Are Young
Stunning reconsiderations of Morrison... incisive, tender, and also honest and unsparing
HANIF ABDURRAQIB, author of A Little Devil in America
On Morrison is not simply a literary miracle; it is a cultural feat, a damn near perfect concoction made maybe once in a generation... we should be thankful to share the earth with this art object
KIESE LAYMON, author of Heavy: An American Memoir
Morrison gave me language to understand the voices of my African-American kin. In this brilliant book, Namwali Serpell invites the reader into an intimate conversation. She is scholar - with an incisive intellect and a questing spirit. And she is literary bestie: accessible, challenging and illuminating
ELLAH P. WAKATAMA
As gripping as it is intellectually brilliant... a lucid and revelatory close-read of all of her work... On Morrison is a classic
CATHY PARK HONG, author of Minor Feelings
An impressive, nuanced work of scholarship
Kirkus, starred review
Insightful and stimulating... Through exceptional close readings and sharp analyses, Serpell puts Morrison’s genius on full display. This will enthrall Morrison fans and cultivate new ones
Publishers Weekly, starred review

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