It looks like there have been 113 individuals that have won a Nobel Prize in Literature. While I'm sure it's an impressive accomplishment I don't think that necessarily means "everyone should know about this person or they are uncultured swine!"
It looks like she's mostly known because 4 of her works were featured by Oprah's book club. I generally don't base my reading list off of the recommendation of day time talk show hosts that have an intended audience of middle-aged women, largely house wives/stay at home mothers.
I mean, if you took a basic look at her Wikipedia you'll see that she had won a Pulitzer and a NOBEL PRIZE before Oprah recommended any of her books.
It's okay that you don't know who someone is, but there's no need to denigrate an artist or question their bonafides because you don't know who they are.
It looks like she's mostly known because 4 of her works were featured by Oprah's book club. I generally don't base my reading list off of the recommendation of day time talk show hosts that have an intended audience of middle-aged women, largely house wives/stay at home mothers.