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We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.

From the essay “On Keeping a Notebook” in Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Joan Didion Portrait by Jerry Bauer

JOAN DIDION

ABOUT  |  QUOTES  |  BOOKS  |  NEWS  |  ARCHIVE

Photo: Jerry Bauer

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1934–2021

About Joan Didion

Joan Didion was a journalist, novelist, memoirist, essayist, and screenwriter who wrote some of the sharpest and most evocative analyses of culture, politics, literature, family, and loss. She won the National Book Award in 2005 for The Year of Magical Thinking.

THE ARCHIVE

The New York Public Library Acquires the Papers of Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne

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JOAN DIDION BOOKS

   BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR  
   ESSAYS  
   FICTION  
   WORLD POLITICS  
THE NATIONWIDE BESTSELLER

Let Me Tell You What I Mean

With a foreword by Hilton Als, these pieces from 1968 to 2000, never before gathered together, offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary figure. They showcase Joan Didion’s incisive reporting, her empathetic gaze, and her role as “an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time” (The New York Times Book Review).

Joan Didion Let Me Tell You What I Mean book cover
Photo of Joan Didion and her daughter Quintana Roo Dunne at home.
  THE LATEST  

NEWS

JANUARY 27, 2023

New York Public Library Acquires Joan Didion’s Papers

The joint archive of Didion and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, includes manuscripts, photographs, letters, dinner party guest lists and other personal items.

NEW YORK TIMES »

MEMORIAL SERVICE

A Celebration of the Life of Joan Didion

On September 21, 2022, the Cathedral Church of Saint John Divine hosted a celebration of Joan Didion’s life and work.

THE DOCUMENTARY

The Center Will Not Hold

Joan Didion reflects on her remarkable career and personal struggles in this intimate documentary directed by her nephew, Griffin Dunne.

PBS NEWSHOUR

Remembering Joan Didion

“She captured moments in American culture with penetrating clarity and style,” says PBS News Hour’s Jeffrey Brown in this remembrance of the life and work of Joan Didion.

THE ARCHIVE

Gathered here are some of the files, photographs, manuscripts, notes, book jackets, and other items connected to Joan Didion’s life and legacy. We’re making this remarkable body of work accessible to everyone and will be adding stories and galleries as new items become available.

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