Joan Didion Coming to Music Hall

Writers on a New England Stage, the celebrated author series presented by The Music Hall and New Hampshire Public Radio, presents Joan Didion on Tuesday, June 19.  Ms. Didion, the National Book Award winner and  author of  The Year Of Magical Thinking, joins us with her memoir BLUE NIGHTS, just out in paperback.

“Joan Didion is one of the greatest writers of our time, a keen and canny observer of our worlds - the political, social and personal.  She is a stand-out in the realms of literature, screenwriting, and journalism, and I am tremendously honored to host her in Writers a New England Stage,” said Executive Producer Patricia Lynch.    

About the Book

Richly textured with memories from her own childhood and married life with her husband, John Gregory  Dunne, and daughter, Quintana Roo, this new book by JOAN DIDION is an intensely personal and moving account of her thoughts, fears, and doubts regarding having children, illness and growing old. As she reflects on her daughter’s life and on her role as a parent, Didion grapples with the candid questions that all parents face, and contemplates her age, something she finds hard to acknowledge, much less accept.

BLUE NIGHTS—the long, light evening hours that signal the summer solstice, “the opposite of the dying of the brightness, but also its warning”—like The Year of Magical Thinking before it, is an iconic book of  incisive and electric honesty, haunting and profound. 

Following her onstage presentation about her book and her writing life, Ms. Quindlen will be interviewed by Virginia Prescott, host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Word of Mouth.” Live music will be provided by the house band Dreadnaught.

About the Author

JOAN DIDION was born in Sacramento, California, and now lives in New York City. She is the author of five novels including Play it as it Lays (which also became a movie) and A Book of Common Prayer.  Didion has published eight previous books of nonfiction, including The Year of Magical Thinking, which earned the National Book Award in 2005.  Her first work of nonfiction, a collection of essays titled Slouching Toward Bethelem, was published in 1968.  Her collected nonfiction, We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live, was published by Everyman's Library in 2006.

Submitted by Kathleen Soldati, director of marketing, The Music Hall