Acclaimed author and feminist bell hooks dies at 69

Groundbreaking author and feminist bell hooks (born Gloria Jean Watkins) passed away at 69 years old.

Berea College, where hooks held the title of distinguished professor in residence in Appalachian studies, announced that she died at her home in Berea, Ky., on Wednesday (Dec. 15) "after an extended illness."

According to the Washington Post, hooks' sister Gwenda Motley confirmed the cause as end-stage renal failure.

"Raised in a racially segregated town in rural Kentucky, Dr. hooks rose to become one of the most prominent feminist writers and theorists of her generation," the Post continued. "A poet, memoirist, social critic and longtime professor at Berea College, she wrote more than 30 books, mixing the personal and the political in essays that examined Madonna music videos, Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, the representation of Black Americans in film and the nature of love."

Tributes immediately poured out across Twitter: