NEW YORK (AP) — Joan Didion, the revered author and essayist whose provocative social commentary and detached, methodical literary voice made her a uniquely clear-eyed critic of a uniquely turbulent time, has died.
Didion’s publisher Penguin Random House announced the author’s death on Thursday.
She died from complications from Parkinson’s disease, the company said.
“Didion was one of the country’s most trenchant writers and astute observers. Her best-selling works of fiction, commentary, and memoir have received numerous honors and are considered modern classics,” Penguin Random House said in a statement.
“The Year of Magical Thinking” is a classic work about grief that won the National Book Award and such essay collections as “The White Album” and “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” have become standard reading.
She was 87.