Author Toni Morrison has died.

The acclaimed “Beloved” and “Jazz” writer died Monday at 88 in New York, according to her publisher, Alfred A. Knopf.

Morrison was honored with virtually every literary award imaginable over her decades-long career — including the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award.

{mosads}In 2012, then-President Obama awarded Morrison the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award. At the ceremony at the White House, Obama lauded Morrison’s writing for “using a tone that is lyrical, precise, distinct, and inclusive.”

“Toni Morrison’s prose brings us that kind of moral and emotional intensity that few writers ever attempt,” Obama said.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Obama said Morrison’s work “was not just beautiful but meaningful— a challenge to our conscience and a call to greater empathy.”

Several school districts across the country attempted to ban some of Morrison’s works. Her 1970 novel “The Bluest Eye” was banned in some schools in Oregon and Colorado for being “sexually explicit.” Several school districts also challenged, and some banned, her 1977 book “Song of Solomon.”

Morrison’s family said in a Tuesday statement provided by her publisher that the Ohio-born novelist was a “consummate writer who treasured the written word.”

“Although her passing represents a tremendous loss, we are grateful she had a long, well lived life,” her family said.

In 1998, Morrison made headlines for dubbing then-President Clinton the nation’s “first black president” in a New Yorker essay. She endorsed then-Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) 2008 White House bid, writing at the time that “this is one of those singular moments that nations ignore at their peril.”

Following news of Morrison’s death, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democratic 2020 presidential candidate, and several other lawmakers and White House hopefuls took to social media to praise her.

“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.”

― Toni Morrison

— Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) August 6, 2019

She was an icon, a Pulitzer Prize winner, a Nobel Laureate, and a singular and essential voice in our American story. Rest In Peace our beloved Toni. We will carry your words with us forever. https://t.co/vl4uAz6pJL

— Rep. Blunt Rochester (@RepLBR) August 6, 2019

“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”

Thank you, #ToniMorrison, for bettering us with your words and wisdom. Your impact is immeasurable. https://t.co/BRvh9iuZh1

— Katherine Clark (@RepKClark) August 6, 2019

Thank you, Toni Morrison, for uplifting and bringing beauty to marginalized voices, especially those of black women. Thank you for being a truth-teller and challenging us all to strive toward something greater.
https://t.co/ErLWY3q8mn

— Rep. Terri A. Sewell (@RepTerriSewell) August 6, 2019

In the passing of Toni Morrison, we lost one of our greatest voices & storytellers. Holding close those touched by her being & her gift. Her work gave us power, hope & freedom. While our world shines a little less bright today, we know “something that is loved is never lost.”

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 6, 2019

For giving us stories the world needed, but hardly heard before you; for sharing your gift with words at their most visceral; for being a force and making history—thank you, Toni Morrison. pic.twitter.com/F6vt22cbwV

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) August 6, 2019

“If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.” -Toni Morrison

Today we lost an American legend. May she rest in peace. https://t.co/DInZvd8stY

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 6, 2019

—Updated at 11:41 a.m.