How Toni Morrison blurred the lines between being an editor and a writer

Two recent books about Morrison attempt to make sense of her legacy as a writer, editor and thinker on Black life

When I think of Toni Morrison’s novels, I often think of the poet Lucille Clifton’s response to Gorilla, My Love, the debut short story collection by “the other Toni”, Toni Cade Bambara: “She has captured it all, how we really talk, how we really are; and done it with both love and respect. I laughed until I cried, then laughed again. I loved it! She must love us very much.”

Published in 1972, Bambara’s collection roves through a Black girlhood filled with wit, tenderness, play and betrayal with a rhythmic intensity that moves the way a blues lyric drifts into memory. Morrison edited the book, the first fiction acquisition of her 16-year tenure as an editor at Random House. The Tonis were both single mothers navigating multiple forms of literary labor, and they became fast friends.