Toni Morrison, an American writer who received the Nobel Prize in Literature, has died at age 88. Her novels, “Beloved,” “Song of Solomon,” and others explored the way African-Americans search for freedom and identity in a country obsessed with skin color. Morrison’s family released a statement saying she died in New York Monday night after a short sickness. “Toni Morrison passed away peacefully last night surrounded by family and friends,” the statement said. She loved the written word and “was most at home when writing,” the statement also said. Morrison was nearly 40 when she published her first novel “The Bluest Eye” in 1970. Within 25 years, she would win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Prize committee described her writing as “language itself, a language she wants to liberate” from race. Her novels discussed America’s past, focusing on black history and the effects of slavery and racism on individuals.