Literary icon Joan Didion dies at 87. California-born writer, journalist and cultural critic, Joan Didion, died of complications from Parkinson’s disease on December 23 in Manhattan at the age of 87. Born and largely raised in Sacramento, she graduated from UC Berkeley and began her writing career while working at Vogue magazine. In both her fiction and non-fiction, Didion was often lauded as a keen observer of American life and politics.

New Orleans native Anne Rice, passed away in Rancho Mirage this last weekend at age 80 due to complications from a stroke. Her passing was announced by her son Christopher Rice, a successful author in his own right, via social media. Anne had spent many years in California, first in San Francisco in her early 20s through her late 40s, and then later that year to Ranch Mirage.

bell hooks, author, poet feminist, cultural critic and professor passed away on Wednesday at the age of 69.

“If we are always fearful of judgement, we can never take the risks that make it possible for us to be fully self-actualized.”

Children’s Book Illustrator, Floyd Cooper, passed away last Thursday, July 16, in Easton, Pennsylvania. Cooper, a native of Tulsa, OK had collaborated with various authors on dozens of books, including one for which he won the Coretta Scott King Award for his illustrations in Joyce Carol Thomas’ book The Blacker the Berry in 2009.

Lois Ehlert, children’s book author and illustrator of “Color Zoo” and “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom,” died on Tuesday May 25, 2021 at the age of 86.

Eric Carle, author & illustrator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and many other beloved classics, passed away on May 23 at the age of 91.

Two national literary treasurers died this last Thursday, March 25, children’s author Beverly Cleary and novelist and screenwriter Larry McMurtry. Learn more about their lives and checkout their works at their catalog pages.

Norton Juster, author of children’s classics such as 1961’s The Phantom Tollbooth, passed away on March 8 at the age of 91. Check out one of Norton Juster’s beloved books by reserving a copy with your library card from the Library’s online catalog.