Rare Toni Morrison short story to be published this month

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — To much of the world the late Toni Morrison was a novelist, celebrated for such classics as “Beloved” and “The Bluest Eye.” But the Nobel laureate also completed plays, poems, essays, and a handful of short stories, one of which is coming out as a book next month. “Recitatif,” written by Morrison in the early 1980s and rarely seen over the following decades, follows the lives of two women from childhood to their contrasting fortunes as adults. Zadie Smith contributes an introduction and the story’s audio edition is read by the actor Bahni Turpin. The book will be released Feb. 1.