Dolly Parton, the country music superstar who was also a prolific author and the founder of a wildly popular literacy program, died at 80, The New York Times reports.

Parton was born in Pittman Center, Tennessee, and raised in nearby Locust Ridge. She was one of 12 children; her family battled poverty throughout Parton’s childhood. She began singing as a child, and recorded her first single, “Puppy Love,” at 13.

She became a country music star in the late 1960s with her appearances on The Porter Wagoner Show, then going on to record iconic songs including “Coat of Many Colors,” “Jolene,” and “I Will Always Love You.” She was also an actor, known for her roles in the films 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Steel Magnolias.

In 1979, she published her first book, Just the Way I Am, a collection of poetry inspired by her songs. She released an autobiography, Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business, in 1994, the same year that she published her first children’s book, Coat of Many Colors, illustrated by Judith Sutton. In recent years she wrote a series of picture books featuring a French bulldog, co-written with Erica S. Perl and illustrated by MacKenzie Haley: Billy the Kid Makes It Big, Billy The Kid Comes Home for Christmas, and Billy The Kid Dances His Heart Out. In 2022, she published an adult thriller co-written with James Patterson, Run, Rose, Run.

Her nonfiction books include Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, co-written with Robert K. Oermann; Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, co-written with Holly George-Warren and Rebecca Seaver; and Star of the Show: My Life on Stage, co-written with Tom Roland.

In 1995, Parton founded the Imagination Library, a program that sends free books to children in five countries; the program was inspired by her father’s illiteracy. “Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done,” Parton wrote on the library’s website. “I can’t tell you how much that meant to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my Daddy. He was the smartest man I have ever known but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams.”

Since its founding, the Imagination Library has given away more than 332 million books.

Parton’s admirers paid tribute to her on social media. On the platform X, New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof posted, “Dolly Parton, who grew up as one of 12 children of an illiterate sharecropper, never forgot her roots when she became a star. Her songs and her philanthropy made her beloved: Her Imagination Library has distributed 300 million books to children. She has died at 80, an amazing woman. RIP, brave Dolly.”

And activist Martin Luther King III wrote, “Dolly Parton embodied the beloved community. She was a creative visionary, steadfast philanthropist, and proud ally to the LGBTQ community who spent her life making people feel welcome and loved. Through her Imagination Library alone, she put books in the hands of millions of children and gave generations of families the gift of reading. Her compassion reached children, disaster victims, vaccine recipients, and countless others around the world. Rest in peace, Dolly. Thank you for wrapping us all in your coat of many colors.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.