Joan Didion

Two years after the death of her husband, Joan Didion suffered the untimely loss of her only daughter. She pieces together her memories of Quintana Roo in her new memoir, Blue Nights.

Writer Joan Didion. Known for her self-reflective essays and reporting, Didion is one of America's most important writers. Her books include A Book of Common Prayer, Slouching Toward Bethlehem and Salvador. With her husband John Gregory Dunne, she co-wrote the screenplay for "True Confessions." Her new book is titled Miami.

Journalist, screenwriter and novelist John Gregory Dunne. In his new book, Harp, Dunne explores what it means to be Irish Catholic in America. Dunne explores his own history - "from steerage to suburbia in three generations" - his college days longing to be a WASP, his family's scarred history (suicides, murders), and what he calls his "insane desire to be assimilated." Dunne's earlier novels include The Red White and Blue, True Confessions, Vegas and Dutch Shea, Jr.