Didion, Joan (1934–)
Didion, Joan (1934–)
American novelist and journalist. Born Dec 5, 1934, in Sacramento, California; dau. of Frank Reese Didion (army officer) and Eduene (Jerrett) Didion; University of California at Berkeley, BA, 1956; aunt of actor-director Griffin Dunne and actress Dominique Dunne; m. John Gregory Dunne (writer), Jan 30, 1964 (died Dec 30, 2003); children: (daughter) Quintana Roo (died).
Best known for journalistic essays and for helping to shape New Journalism, worked for Vogue magazine for several years (1956–63); collections of her magazine essays are contained in Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968) and The White Album (1979); novels include Run River (1963), Play It As It Lays (1970), A Book of Common Prayer (1977) and The Last Thing He Wanted (1996); nonfiction includes Salvador (1983), Miami (1987), Political Fictions (2001) and The Year of Magical Thinking (2005); also collaborated with husband on several screenplays, including Panic in Needle Park (1971), Play It As It Lays (1973), A Star is Born (1977), True Confessions (1982) and Up Close and Personal (1995); frequent contributor to New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. Received Edward MacDowell Medal (1996) and Columbia Journalism Award (1999).