Famed author and journalist Joan Didion dies at 87

MEDIA ADVISORY

Oregon State professor emeritus and Joan Didion biographer shares thoughts on her passing

 

Contact: Molly Rosbach, [email protected]

 

With today’s news that acclaimed American writer Joan Didion has died, Oregon State University Professor Emeritus Tracy Daugherty, the author of her bestselling biography, offered this comment on Didion’s impact on the literary world.

 

“Joan Didion was not only an incisive reporter, conveying information about the most important events of our day, she was also a brilliant stylist, embodying those events in unforgettable language, so that the story of our time will be told and re-told in years to come,” Daugherty said Thursday. “That is her gift to history. No one was a better witness, no one a fiercer keeper of our truths.”

 

Daugherty is the author of the 2015 Didion biography “The Last Love Song,” which reached #11 on the New York Times bestseller list. He has also written literary biographies of Joseph Heller and Donald Barthelme, along with several novels, short story collections and a book of personal essays.

 

Due to holiday travel plans, Daugherty is unavailable for urgent interview requests.

 

Eugene author and professor at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, Lauren Kessler posted the photo on the right on Facebook on December 23rd after Joan Didion died quoting: “Whatever I know about the power, elegance and beauty of journalism, I learned from you.”