She was born in 1934 in Sacramento, California.
She moved to New York after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley in 1956, and began her first job at Vogue, where she rose from copywriter to features editor.
Didion’s first novel, “Run River,” was published in 1963. In 1964, she married novelist John Gregory Dunne and moved to California. Quintana Roo, their adopted daughter, was born a few years later.
Didion and Dunne worked together on a number of projects, including screenplays for “The Panic in Needle Park” (1971), “Play It As It Lays” (1972), based on Didion’s second novel, “A Star Is Born” (1976), and “Up Close and Personal” (1977). (1996).
Didion lived in New York in her later years, but she was most identified with her home state of California.
Joan Didion Parkinson’s disease and health: What killed author?
Per a statement from Paul Bogaards of Knopf Publishing, the writer was suffering from Parkinson and that led to her demise eventually.
“We are deeply saddened to report that Joan Didion died earlier this morning at her home in New York as a result of complications from Parkinson’s disease,”
The news was first reported by the New York Times. She died at 86.
