JOAN DIDION

Date of Birth: December 5, 1934
Birthplace: Sacramento, CA
Current Residence: New York, NY
Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.A., 1956.
Profession: Writer, Vogue, 1953-63; novelist, essayist, and scriptwriter, 1964—.

I'm rather a slow study, and I came late to the apprehension that there was a void at the center of experience.


-Joan Didion, on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, April 4, 1977

When I am in a migraine aura....I will drive through red lights, lose the house keys, spill whatever I am holding, lose the ability to focus my eyes or frame coherent sentences, and generally give the appearance of being on drugs, or drunk. The actual headache, when it comes, brings with it chills, sweating, nausea, a debility that seems to stretch the very limits of endurance. That no one dies of migraine seems...an ambiguous blessing.
-Joan Didion, In Bed, The White Album

Didion's melancholy voice is that of a last survivor dictating a superbly written wreckage report onto a tape she doubts will ever be played.
-Melvin Maddocks, Christian Science Monitor