The National Book Foundation has awarded Barbara Kingsolver a medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (DCAL), which has previously been given to Toni Morrison, Philip Roth and Joan Didion among others.

Griffin Dunne's new memoir, “The Friday Afternoon Club, A Family Memoir,” out Tuesday from Penguin Press, is filled with raucous tales of growing up in Hollywood — from sneaking into his parents’ dinner parties featuring Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra, to Sean Connery saving him from drowning in a pool.

The archives of the late Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne have been acquired by the New York Public Library.

Joan Didion, a master of rhythm and of the meaning of the unsaid, was remembered Wednesday as an inspiring and fearless writer and valued, exacting and sometimes eccentric friend.

Joan Didion, the revered author and essayist whose provocative social commentary and detached, methodical literary voice made her a uniquely clear-eyed critic of a uniquely turbulent time, has died.