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Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate and one of our most beloved 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.” Serpell brings her unique experience as both an award-winning writer and a professor who teaches a course on Morrison to illuminate her masterful experiments with literary form.

This is Morrison as you’ve never encountered her before, a journey through her oeuvre—her fiction and criticism, as well as her lesser-known dramatic works and poetry—with contextual guidance and original close readings. At once accessible and uncompromisingly rigorous, On Morrison is a primer not only on how to read one of the most significant American authors of all time but also on how to read great works of literature in general. This dialogue on the page between two black women artists is stylish, edifying, and thrilling in its scope and intelligence.

“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

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praise for On Morrison:

“A landmark appraisal of the great novelist’s work…. I have waited years for this book.”—Laila Lalami, The Guardian

“Thrilling… ingenious.”—Wesley Morris, The New York Times

[A] magisterial deep dive into the output of one of the most profound writers of all time.... there is something for everyone: seasoned scholars of Black literature, aspiring fiction writers, and casual readers of Toni Morrison will all delight in Serpell’s prose style, which can flash between breezy rigor, delicious gossip, and curious appreciation in the span of a few pages. Serpell adores Morrison, and that love is infectious. —Bookforum

[An] invigorating literary study…. this is informed, accessible literary analysis that demonstrates that Morrison’s true genius was as a stylist.—The Wall Street Journal

“[A] lavish yet clear-eyed study . . . literary criticism at its finest.”—TIME

“If you’re looking for a primer on Toni Morrison, you’re in capable hands with Serpell, who normally reserves such scholarship for her students at Harvard. In this survey, she walks readers through Morrison’s robust oeuvre, from the fiction that made her famous to her less well-known criticism, plays, and poetry.”—The New York Times

“I can’t think of a better reader to conduct this study of Toni Morrison . . . Serpell’s inquiry weighs the consuming mythos around Morrison against the real woman’s complex and thorny output.”—Literary Hub

“Revelatory . . . will captivate everyone from newcomers to [Morrison’s] most devoted fans.”—Vulture

“On Morrison brings the reader on new journeys through [Morrison’s] famous fiction and her lesser-known plays and poetry. Serpell will make you want to read literature with fresh eyes and rediscover a love for reading.”—Electric Literature

“This is a book that rises to the challenge of extending and expanding a legacy by giving the person at the heart of that legacy time, rigor, and care.”—Hanif Abdurraqib, New York Times bestselling author of There’s Always This Year

“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, winner of the National Book Award

“Only Namwali Serpell could write a critical guide on Toni Morrison’s novels that is as gripping as it is intellectually brilliant. While On Morrison provides a lucid and revelatory close read of all of her work, it’s also a love letter to reading itself; to the virtues of difficulty; to Black literary inheritance; and to Morrison’s uncompromising vision in always bringing the center to the margins. On Morrison is a classic.”—Cathy Park Hong, author of Minor Feelings

“Dazzling…. Serpell uses intellectual rigor alongside inventive flair to tackle Toni Morrison’s writing in ways that feel both fresh and deeply expanding. This book is an illuminating guide to understanding how best to read, understand, and admire one of American literature’s greatest voices.”—Isaac Fitzgerald, TODAY

“Graceful, exhilarating . . . Serpell deserves consideration for a major prize. Mostly she deserves our gratitude and admiration: On Morrison gives us, in precise yet supple prose, a close reading in action and an exemplar of literary criticism. . . . This book will spur you to pour over the master’s achievements.”—On the Seawall

“On Morrison is not simply a literary miracle; it is a cultural feat, a damn near perfect concoction made maybe once in a generation. It is what happens when a mind as curious as it is expansive explores the work of the greatest maker of novels in American history.”—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

“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 A House for Alice


“A thrilling, candid, and immersive study of one extraordinary mind by another . . . a necessary book and a brilliant achievement.”—Preti Taneja, author of We That Are Young

“An impressive, nuanced work of scholarship.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“An insightful and stimulating exploration of the work of Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. . . . This will enthrall Morrison fans and cultivate new ones…. Serpell puts Morrison's genius on full display.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Illuminating and fascinating . . . [On Morrison] offers insight and fresh perspectives and will appeal to readers new to and deeply familiar with Morrison’s vital body of work…. Academic yet accessible, this astute collection offers insight and fresh perspectives.”—Booklist, starred review

“Decades in the making, On Morrison is [Serpell’s] breathtakingly comprehensive analysis of the Nobel laureate’s oeuvre…. An astonishing collection of close readings… an asset to Morrison scholarship.”—Book Page, starred review

If evolutionary biologists, ethical philosophers, and social media gurus are to be believed, the face is the basis for what we call “humanity.” The face is considered the source of identity, truth, beauty, authenticity, and empathy. It underlies our ideas about what constitutes a human, how we relate emotionally, what is pleasing to the eye, and how we ought to treat each other. But all of this rests on a specific image of the face. We might call it the ideal face.

What about the strange face, the stranger’s face, the face that thwarts recognition? What do we make of the face that rides the line of legibility? This collection of speculative essays on a few such stranger faces—the disabled face, the racially ambiguous face, the digital face, the face of the dead— probes our mythology of the face. Namwali Serpell’s Stranger Faces imagines a new ethics based on the perverse pleasures we take in the very mutability of faces.

A New Yorker Best Book of 2020. A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism and for the Believer Book Award for Nonfiction.

“Wise, warm, witty and dizzyingly wide-ranging.” —The New York Times