The late author Joan Didion‘s possessions are going up for auction very soon.
If you’ve ever wanted to own one of your favourite authors’ belongings – such as fine art, furniture, decorations, cookware, books, and more – you can on November 16th. More information on the items that will be available can be found at LitHub.
The proceeds from the public auction will go towards an as-of-yet unlisted charity.
Didion’s career took off after winning an essay contest sponsored by Vogue. She wrote about her own experiences in 1960s counterculture. Her style was labeled “New Journalism.” She wrote a lot of non-fiction – most of which being collections of magazine articles. The most famous of these is Slouching Towards Bethlehem. She also wrote five novels – Run, River, Play It as It Lays, A Book of Common Prayer, Democracy, and The Last Thing He Wanted.
She was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by PEN Center USA, and a National Medal of Arts by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2013. She also received honorary doctorates from Harvard and Yale. Her book The Year of Magical Thinking won the National Book Award for Nonfiction as well the Prix Medicis Essais.
The Year of Magical Thinking was the first original non-fiction book she wrote, being a memoir about the passing of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, and her daughter Quintana’s serious battle with pneumonia that both happened around the same time. Her daughter passed away at only 39 years of age.
Joan herself passed away this past December from complications related to Parkinson’s disease. She was 87.