Joan Didion is responsible for some of the greatest non-fiction writing of the last 50 years. Her first collection of essays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem , was immediately hailed as a masterpiece, and each book since has become a part of the cultural conversation. 2005’s A Year of Magical Thinking , documenting her grief over the sudden death of her husband, won the National Book Award for non-fiction. In 2007, Didion received the National Book Foundation's annual Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters for “her distinctive blend of spare, elegant prose and fierce intelligence.”