Joan Didion (1934–2021)
Author of The Year of Magical Thinking
About the Author
Born in Sacramento, California, on December 5, 1934, Joan Didion received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1956. She wrote for Vogue from 1956 to 1963, and was visiting regent's lecturer in English at the University of California, Berkeley in 1976. Didion also published novels, show more short stories, social commentary, and essays. Her work often comments on social disorder. Didion wrote for years on her native California; from there her perspective broadened and turned to the countries of Central America and Southeast Asia. Her novels include Democracy (1984) and The Last Thing He Wanted (1996). Well known nonfiction titles include Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968), The White Album (1979), The Year of Magical Thinking (2005) and Blue Nights (2011). In 1971 Joan Didion was nominated for the National Book Award in fiction for Play It As It Lays. In 1981 she received the American Book Award in nonfiction, and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Prize in nonfiction for The White Album. Didion has received a great deal of recognition for The Year of Magical Thinking, which was awarded the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2005. In 2007, Didion received the National Book Foundation's annual Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. In 2009, Didion was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Harvard University. On July 3, 2013 the White House announced Didion was one of the recipients of the National Medals of Arts and Humanities presented by President Barack Obama. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Photo © 2003 Colleen Guaitolini
Works by Joan Didion
Telling Stories (Series of Keepsakes Issued by the Friends of Bancroft Library, No. 26) (1978) 9 copies
After Henry {essay} 6 copies
Goodbye to All That 4 copies
Didion, Joan Archive 2 copies
On Self-Respect 2 copies
“Quiet Days in Malibu” 1 copy
Associated Works
Boom! Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today (2007) — Contributor — 879 copies
The Writer on Her Work, Volume I: Contemporary Women Writers Reflect on their Art and Situation (1980) — Contributor — 175 copies
Writing Women's Lives: An Anthology of Autobiographical Narratives by Twentieth-Century American Women Writers (1994) — Contributor — 119 copies
Writing New York: A Literary Anthology (Expanded 10th-Anniversary Edition) (2008) — Contributor — 92 copies
The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contributor — 79 copies
About Women: An Anthology of Contemporary Fiction, Poetry, and Essays (1973) — Contributor — 26 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Didion, Joan
- Birthdate
- 1934-12-05
- Date of death
- 2021-12-23
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Sacramento, California, USA
- Place of death
- Manhattan, New York, USA
- Cause of death
- Parkinson's disease
- Places of residence
- Malibu, California, USA
Brentwood Park, California, USA
Manhattan, New York, USA - Education
- University of California, Berkeley (BA - English)
- Occupations
- novelist
essayist
screenwriter - Relationships
- Dunne, John Gregory (husband)
Dunne, Dominick (brother-in-law)
Dunne, Dominique (niece)
Dunne, Griffin (nephew) - Organizations
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature, 1981)
- Awards and honors
- National Book Award, Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (2007)
Robert Kirsch Award (2005)
Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award (2005)
Gold Medal, American Academy of Arts and Letters ( [2005])
National Humanities Medal (2012) - Agent
- Lynn Nesbit (Janklow and Nesbit)
Henry Robbins
Members
Discussions
Joan Didion? in Legacy Libraries (November 2022)
Which Joan Didion book should I read first? in Book talk (November 2019)
Reviews
Lists
Favourite Books (4)
Female Author (1)
Deathreads (1)
1960s (1)
Unread books (1)
2000s decade (1)
Central America (1)
First Novels (1)
My TBR (2)
sad girl books (2)
sad girl books (2)
Read These Too (2)
Carole's List (1)
Cooper (1)
100 New Classics (1)
Allie's Wishlist (1)
1970s (1)
Phoebe Bridgers (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 43
- Also by
- 30
- Members
- 29,331
- Popularity
- #683
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 648
- ISBNs
- 428
- Languages
- 16
- Favorited
- 137
- About
- 2
- Touchstones
- 670
I was also struck by her position and privilege. Her matter-of-factness when speaking of the people she knows who "have influence at State or Justice," her ability to fly to Paris or Honolulu at essentially a moment's notice, her coterie of friends and family who have houses in various places and where she can ask for permission to stay as she keeps a vigil over her daughter in the hospital. The silver. The china. The wine. The many restaurants where she and her husband have eaten. Her privilege is on the page more than her passion; and it isn't even that I mind so much -- it's that she seems so unconscious of it. And although none of that could prevent her husband from dying, or ease the pain of her loss, there is no question that it smoothed the path.
I read this right after I read Wild by Cheryl Strayed, and there couldn't be two books more different, although they have the common frame of grief. But each one served to illuminate the other. Joan Didion's loss caused her to have "cognitive deficiencies:" she misremembered dates and addresses and lost bits of the last days with her husband. Strayed's cognitive deficiencies took the form of drug use and infidelity. Didion picked up her pen, and Strayed picked up a backpack. But neither of them were in their right minds.… (more)