Toni Morrison, a literary lion whose narrative voice soared from deep tenderness to searing power in “Beloved,” “Song of Solomon” and other novels, died Monday night in New York, her publisher Alfred A. Knopf said. She was 88 years old.

Ms. Morrison, who had a career as an editor before turning to fiction, created unforgettable worlds that chronicled the African-American experience. She collected literature’s highest honors, including the Nobel Prize in literature—the first black woman to do so—as well as the Pulitzer Prize...