Join Jo-Ann Vega as she revisits the late writer and cultural icon Joan Didion’s background and memoirs (The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights) for an informative and interactive discussion on memoir, loss, aging, and healing through writing. Rereading Didion’s memoirs a decade after Vega published her own memoir, experienced first-hand the loss of several close family members, and examined Didion’s biography, expanded her view and understanding of loss, aging, and writing.

Didion brought decades of critical reportage, a keen eye for the telling detail, surgical precision with language, and a reputation for unsentimentality to her journey to endure the hardest of all human endeavors: saying goodbye to those we love. Derailed by the apparent sudden death of her 40-year writer collaborator husband and then her daughter, Didion documents her grief, details her magical, deranged thinking, and exposes her vulnerabilities. We are left with an unflinching account from a brave, curious, and observant explorer, a roadmap into grief: I can’t bear it. I’ll go on, as she writes her way to recovery and emerges transformed. In the process, Didion leaves us a trail of useful insights and observations.

Jo-Ann Vega is a local educator and published author with more than 30 years of experience presenting to groups in diverse learning environments.

Registration is requested.