The Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Pulitzer Prize. The Nobel Prize in Literature. In worldly terms, Toni Morrison achieved everything a writer could hope for over her 88 wonderful years.

But undoubtedly her most important accomplishment – alongside her world-shifting novels and essays, of course – was propping the door open for others. A champion of black writers from her beginnings as a book editor through to her recognition as an American great, she was always adamant about amplifying black voices – particularly those of women.

The black women writers you should have on your radar