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We have lost another great one this year.

Gloria Naylor, the author of the beloved novel “The Women of Brewster Place,” has died. She was only 66.

According to the Associated Press, Naylor’s death was confirmed on Monday by Cara Reilly, an assistant at the literary agency Sterling Lord Literistic. Reilly provided no other details about Naylor’s death, but according to Ebony, Naylor’s sister Bernice Harrison told the publication that Naylor died of a heart attack on September 28 in the Virgin Islands.

She was a wonderful person, very generous, kind, and thoughtful,” Harrison said via phone on Monday.

And she will be greatly be missed.

Harrrison also shared that her sister had been sick for some time suffering from a weak heart, but that her family wasn’t aware of the extent of her illness, Ebony noted. She added that her sister will be cremated on Tuesday.

While Naylor wrote other novels including Linden HillsMama Day and The Men of Brewster Place, The Women of Brewster Place is her best-known having won the National Book Award in 1983. It was also made into a miniseries on ABC in 1989 starring Oprah Winfrey, Cicely Tyson and Robin Givens.

Naylor was born in New York, graduating from Brooklyn College and later receiving a masters in African American Studies from Yale University.

Black Twitter paid homage to the novelist who dedicated her life to telling passionate and empowering stories about her people.

RIP Gloria. Your love and light and will be sorely missed.

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