Joan Didion was an exponent of what is known as “New journalism”, in which the journalist acts as narrator and witness

The renowned American writer, journalist, essayist and screenwriter Joan Didion , a cultural icon in the United States and whose incisive gaze characterized her work, died this Thursday at the age of 87 at her home in the New York neighborhood of Manhattan , local media reported.

Didion , an exponent of what is known as ” New journalism “, in which the journalist acts as narrator and witness, sharply reflected the American world in her work, according to her critics.

Born in Sacramento ( California ) on December 5, 1934, Didion suffered from Alzheimer’s.

She graduated from Berkeley University in California and was awarded an honorary degree in Letters by Harvard and Yale universities. She began working at Vogue magazine, where she was an editor and film critic, and has been a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books .

Together with her husband, John Gregory Dunne , she also wrote screenplays, including the one that led to the film “As the Game Comes” (1972), made by Frank Perry and starring Anthony Perkins. She is the author in addition to the novels ” Rio stirred “, ” Book of Common Prayer “, ” Democracy ” and ” The Last Thing she Wanted “.

With her work “The Year of Magical Thinking”, which she wrote after losing her husband and daughter, she won the 2005 National Prize (The National Book Award) in the USA for a non-fiction work.

In 2017, the Netflix platform aired a documentary about her entitled “Joan Didion: the center gives way” and directed by her nephew Griffin Dunne.

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