Didion fans who have already read through the prolific author's back-catalogue will today be thrilled to learn that a new and deeply personal work is forthcoming from the late author. Joan Didion’s diary, found in her home, is set for publication in April of this year, offering an intimate glimpse into the acclaimed writer’s thoughts on loss, addiction, and her fraught relationship with her daughter, Quintana.
Didion once described her writing process as an attempt to understand the world around her. And with Notes to John, readers may finally have a rare opportunity to witness her thoughts in their rawest form. For everything we know so far, read on.
What is it about?
Titled Notes to John, the diary was discovered in a filing cabinet near Didion’s desk following her death in 2021. Addressed to her late husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, who passed away in 2003, the journal begins in December 1999 and documents conversations from her psychiatric sessions at the time.
The 208-page book drawn from Didion’s personal journal has been preserved in its original form, with only minor corrections and contextual footnotes added in. Otherwise, the entries will appear just as they were discovered, as confirmed by the Didion Dunne Literary Trust.
According to a letter Didion wrote to a friend during this period, her family had been navigating “a rough few years” when she began Notes to John. Within its pages, she reflects on her childhood, struggles with alcoholism and depression, and the complexities of her bond with Quintana, who battled mental illness and substance abuse before her passing in 2005 at age 39.
UK publisher 4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins, describes the book as shedding new light on themes Didion later explored in her seminal works, including Where I Was From, The Year of Magical Thinking, and Blue Nights. Kishani Widyaratna, publishing director at 4th Estate, called the journal “a deeply moving and astonishingly intimate portrait of the person behind the revered literary persona.”
When will it be published?
The book will be published by Knopf on 22 April 2025, and will be available online and at all good book stores.
Who is Joan Didion?
Didion, born in Sacramento, California, in 1934, rose to prominence as both a journalist and novelist. Her debut novel, Run River (1963), was followed by works such as A Book of Common Prayer and Play It As It Lays, while her essays, including Goodbye to All That and The White Album, cemented her legacy as one of America’s most incisive cultural critics.
Her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking, a meditation on grief following her husband's sudden death, won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2005. And in 2013, she received the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama and the PEN Center USA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
