"When we talk about mortality we are talking about our children," Joan Didion writes in her new memoir, "Blue Nights." Mortality is a subject Didion has grappled with in recent years, both in life and on the page. In the span of roughly two years, her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, and their only child, Quintana Roo, both died.
Their deaths became the subjects for her two latest books. "The Year of Magical Thinking," completed in just 88 days, was written during the year following her husband's death. It won the National Book Award in 2005 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
"Blue Nights" is examination of love and loss, as Didion reflects on parenting, her writing and Quintana Roo, who died at age 39.
Didion, 76, started her career at Vogue in the early-1960s and went on to write five novels and eight works of nonfiction, including the classic collections of essays, "Slouching Toward Bethlehem" and "The White Album." While she gained fame for her critical and literary reporting style, in recent years, her focus has turned inward.
She recently visited the NewsHour to talk about "Blue Nights":
Sustain our coverage of culture, arts and literature.
Canvas supported by
Knight Foundation
Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The NBA has banned Toronto two-way player Jontay Porter after a league probe found he disclosed confidential information to sports…
The new film "Civil War" is stirring debate and provoking conversation about where a divided nation could lead. It topped…
A movie weapons supervisor has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by…
PEN's response to Israel's invasion of Gaza has been widely criticized by writers who believe the organization has failed to…
Faith Ringgold, an award-winning author and artist who broke down barriers for Black female artists and became famous for her…
Entrepreneur and author Derrick Fennell has been a flight attendant for more than 14 years. Many of his passengers know…
The Italian-born designer became renowned in the early 1970s for his animal prints and a sexy Italian style that remained…
More than 4,000 library book bans were attempted in public and school libraries in 2023, according to the American Library…
The decorated football star who was acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend but wound up…
In the summer of 2022, historic flooding in eastern Kentucky washed away homes and entire communities, claiming more than 40…
Her latest album, the epic "Act ll: Cowboy Carter," hit No. 1 on the Billboard country albums chart, making her…
Narsiso Martinez is an artist whose work celebrates the vital and often invisible labor performed by farmworkers. Martinez's work is…
The conviction stemmed from an altercation last March in which Majors' then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari accused him of attacking her in…
Some people see older buildings as revered artifacts that have stood the test of time, but others see them as…
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' by Mark Twain is one of the cornerstones of American literature. "James," a new novel…